Everyone has a voice

This is hardly the first reference but thanks to Google, who made possible Blogger.com, everyone can have their blog. I said EVERYONE. All it takes is the ability to express one's self and the ability to access the internet. Even if you live in a homeless camp in a city, and have access to the public library internet, you can blog. If you live in a blue state or red state, rich, poor, ride the bus or drive a Hummer, eveyone can have a blog. Some blogs are intelligent and others seem dangerous. Since I am interested in issues of the state and public policy arena, I am excited about what role bloggers will continue to play in our national elections, (Congressional and Presidential votes). NO MORE can MSM state with accuracy that they are the source for news, it is now we the people, we the bloggers.

When I was growing up as a kid, (I am 42), my dad knew the truth; He taught us that the liberals had the upper hand at reporting the news, according to their agenda, and that we were forced to see that agenda from the daily newspapers, radio and TV. That was in the day of broadcast only network TV. Three networks with national news programs that we Americans watched every evenng from 530pm until 6pm. Whatever Walter Conkrite said, was the word on anything. It didn't matter if he was broadcasting the latest on the space program or VIet Nam, network news anchors were gods.

Ha Ha NO MORE. No more "mainstream media". No more MSM. Bloggers and voices on the internet DOMINATE. There are so many choices to read, listen to a podcast or do a search, that it is overwhelming and oh what a delight that is! When ABC news does a commercial for themselves, and they say, "...more americans get their news from ABC News....", they are lying to you. Ask ABC news to prove it. They can't. They might show you a survey, of 567 people but it is bunk. I can come up with over 568 different blogs on news and politics right now. Everyone has a voice whether they are credible or not, we all have a say, We all have a voice and that is very cool.

My point here is that we have a responsibility to voice and write our thoughts, but we must do so with discernment. We need to be truthful, detailed, follow the 5 W's and 1 H, of sharing and reporting. For those of you that didn't take English 101, the Five W's are Who, What, Where, Why, When and How. Take any issue and answer the Five W's and 1 H, and you're on your way to a signficant piece of writing with that one voice that everyone has.

Home Improvement : The Journey

Back in October of 2005 my wife and I signed a contract with a local contractor to add on to the back of our home. We added 13' to the back which meant that we added a new room in the basement, expanded our kitchen, expanded our master bedroom, moved our master bath, redid a deck, put dry wall into our exisiting basement, added a Beam vacuum system (to both old and new portions of home) and a new roof.

Like many couples who think of adding on, we did our research: we poured over magazines, books, walk through Home Depot, Lowes, furiture stores, watch all the shows: HGTV, Trading Spaces, While You were Out, Clean Sweep, (and my favorite, House Lift, do a search on Discovery.com). We went to open houses, remodeling "shows", took in all the Lawn and Garden shows that are held in abundance here in the midwest. We went to IKEA and got ideas--loads, etc. We were stopping and starting as to whether we even wanted to remodel or just move. My banker suggested...no...pleaded that I talk to a real estate agent about our plans, and get his take. As it turns out, the agent we were referred to,, was an established agent but was dating a parent, whose daughter wasn't the kindest to our daughter.... We did entertain him and listened to the fact that our home probably would be, by the time it was done, "...the most expensive house in our neighborhood, and that we'd never get what we put into it, when we go to sell it...." Yea, yea, blah, blah....yawn. It is obvious that at that time, we'd made our decision to remodel.

Now, had I been really intelligent, I would have blogged everything that has happened since those early days. Well, instead what we'll have here is some real intelligence about how one contractor works. Now to his credit, the majority of our home is complete but we are still longing for a few items to be finished and complete. To his credit, the majority of the work has been first class, looks great, and I am proud to brag about what we've done.

Way Cool

This morning, on my way through Panera Bread, I ran into Mike Sansone, the guy who introduced me to blogging. He answered one simple question, and now I am Hyper linking! It sure beats trying to figure things out the other way, like placing the URL manually at the bottom of the text entry, see "Driving a Bus for RAGBRI". BTW, if you need great advice on blogging or you want to see the living definiation of a gregorious individual, look up Mike Sansone

World Trade Center

This movie is coming out next week and like all the other 9/11 movies, everyone needs to go see it. I saw a preview a few weeks ago when we went to go see Cars (which, despite sounding like a "kids movie" was a great great movie. That movie, reflects alot of what inspired me to start this blog).

As I was saying, people NEED to go see the 9/11 movies. I guess there has been at least two hollywood produced movies, Flight 93 and now World Trade Center. A & E had a movie on Flight 93 ("The flight that fought back"), and...check out or at least do a search on www.youtube.com for 9/11 movies. Now just a warning, there are many folks who think 9/11 was a set up by Bush which I violently disagree with. Those people who believe that, are kooks and dangerous. 9/11 was a plan to attack this country, by zealots who were committed to what they believed. Whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not, we are in a war against global terrorism and 9/11 was a wake up call.

In addition to seeing the 9/11 movies, you need to read the 9/11 report that government put out. They have it at Barnes and Noble, for $12. Its got an interview with Osama Bin Laden that I think ABC news did a few years ago. In that interview, Osama spelled out that he was out to kill Americans--Republican, Democrats, Christians, Atheists, the whole lot of us. It didn't matter, he was and still is intent on seeing us eliminated.

I read this week in a local blog, Juice, The Des Moines Register, that it is too early to see 9/11 movies. The blogger, a woman suggested that 9/11 is too political. Too political? Its like intensely human and intensely American. What happened that day in New York and Washington, DC was a human, American event. Everyone remembers where they were on that day. Just ask your Mom and Dad where they were when they heard JFK was shot. Go see the 9/11 movies. Flight 93 actually gave me hope that if the passengers had gotten in he cockpit sooner, they might have been able to save it. We'll never know of course but we can hope. Hope. What America offers to each of us.

I have not been to Ground Zero in New York but when i go later this year to New York, we're going as a family and we're going to find all the museums that have photos and memorials. If you're an American and you're human, you need to go and see and settle up with what 9/11 is to you. Start by going to see one of the movies.

www.united93movie.com

Driving a bus for RAGBRAI

Ok, so for those who don't know, every summer in Iowa they have this great bike ride across the state of Iowa for a week. I am not that ambitious (although I would like to), to actually ride a bike, all week, in the heat, up and down the hills of Iowa. This year, the great, (almost God like Lance Armstrong), rode for a few days. The talk on the ride, (from what I heard the last 24 hours) was that he rode fast. He also said that he was going to come back next year and bring his buddies for a concert, bla bla. All to promote his anti-cancer agenda. Here is my two cents on that. Iowa is a great scenic, down to earth place to live and explore. It was great that Lance came but please don't come here and hijack RAGBRAI for your own agenda. I guess he's married to Sheryl Crow, a big country singer (I guess, I don't listen to country really--I don't hate it, I just don't listen). I guess HE divorced his wife to go marry Sheryl Crow....but I don't know the real story so I'll stop there. ANYway, RAGBRAI, stands for : "the Registers Great Annual Bike RIde Across Iowa". The Register is the "newspaper that Iowa depends on".....really just a liberal editorial paper, owned by the Gannett Media empire. Anyway, they organize this bike ride, which accomodates a couple thousand riders from the west to the east. I don't have any pictures but just Google it ok? Each night, the riders stop in a town and eat/eat/eat/eat/eat/eat/spend money, and rest. Thats where I come in. This is my second year that I agreed to help out "Team Impact" by driving a bus/van to transport the riders back to central Iowa. This year, I came out on Friday, stayed overnight with them at the last overnight stop and then drove to the end, and picked them up, and drove back in this cool "people mover" bus. I slept on the floor of church where they stayed, made some new friends, met some folks who came up from Texas, Illinois and Arizona, just to ride. The bus that I drove was a new, air conditioned and comfortable. My main role was haul people back to central Iowa but before we left, I shuttled the riders for our team, over to a lunch area and waited for them. It was a blast to serve others. Its been real hot and humid this summer in Iowa and you can imagine how hot uncomfortable it was to ride in the heat. On one trip over to DQ and Subway, I stopped and picked up a guy from St. Louis, who seemed near heat stroke. He just stumbled on the bus and walked to the back. Serving a stranger that is so assume! My thank you to Gerald, Nancy, First Assembly of God Des Moines, and Stephanie and Mike with Iowa Family Policy Center for letting me be a part of RAGBRAI this year. Can't wait until next year!!

www.desmonesfirst.org
www.IFPC.org