Just a quick thought today, I need to get back to work:

I was paging through old news stories this morning about the Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) and the Iowa Values Fund (IVF), and I was bored. I decided the department and the program needed an acronym that fits what they're really doing.

My first thought was simple. I added "agriculture" to the formula and produced the Iowa Department of Economic and Agricultural Development, or IDEAD. Some people would say that sums up the problem nicely.

But then I remembered this quote from Mike Blouin, former head of the IDED, and also former head of the Greater Des Moines Partnership:

“Look beyond agrarian stereotypes of Iowa, acknowledge stereotypes with humor, and vigorously refute them.”

So I don't think agriculture really fits into his field at all.

I was ready for this challenge, though, and five post it notes later, I came up with this one:

Iowa's
Notion to
Create
Economic
Status
Through
Unnecessary
Actions and
Laws

How many businesses would needlessly extort taxpayer money if they had to do so by applying for an INCESTUAL grant?

My only problem with this new name: it's a bit of a misnomer. Through the Values Fund, Iowa isn't really screwing its sister. It's screwing itself.

KL

Some thoughts while I wait for my laundry:

There's two new links on the right hand side in the "political, non-crackpot" section. They're related in one way.

I learned about Brian Schweitzer, the Governor of Montana, through this post at Jason Boothe's blog that links to this article.

In terms of actual platform, Schweitzer is a little closer to the center than I am. But if you're looking for electable (cause we never seem to learn from that mistake) Schweitzer may be your guy. And we do agree on my biggest issue, campaign finance reform. Do you realize, at a price of less than $3 million per year, Iowa could completely negate the impact of special interests? That's about 1/40th of what we give to insurance companies annually in tax breaks.

Schweitzer wins without big money too. He goes out, he talks to people, he listens, he knows his constituents, and he might just be the most likeable man to run for President in my lifetime, if he runs. Go to the Schweitzer for President blog and sign the petition to get him to run. Do it now.

KL

Several thoughts today, in no particular order:

I put a Google Adbar at the top, and I feel a bit like a whore for doing so, but it is for a good cause. All revenue generated will be donated to Fallon for Governor. So if you want to help support the cause but are too cheap to do so yourself, click the ads and donate a few cents to Fallon for Governor. We'll get more out of those few cents than Culver or Blouin would have, I can promise you that.

Other blogs I should note this week:

Wikipedia doesn't really count as a blog, but they do have a page on Ed now, which I...umm...might have had something to do with.
State 29 mentioned it too.
Ed spoke at the Associated Press Managing Editors Conference in Ames this morning, and to say Drew Miller was all over it would be an absolute understatement. BTW - if anyone would like to see the full text of today's speech, I've got it. I disagree with Drew's prognosis on what we had to say, but seeing as I wasn't there to see it, I can't argue with the delivery.
One more link to Drew, this week he got so bored he name-dropped me.

This week was my first real foray into the realm of employer, as we interviewed candidates for our organizer positions. I'd been on the other side of that table many, many times, but interviewing candidates is tougher than I'd expected, and deciding on a final candidate is much tougher. I can't give too many specifics, because we haven't informed our winners/non-winners yet, but our last interview was yesterday morning at 10, we started to debate which candidates (and how many) to hire shortly thereafter, and two days later, the debate is still raging on. I guess I always figured this process was a little more cut and dry.

Anyway, weekends are good. I'm going to miss them when I don't have them anymore.

This has been KL Snow

FYI - If you haven't Google Alerted yourself, go do it now. Sometimes you'll find interesting stuff, sometimes you'll find crazy stuff, but at least you'll know if someone puts your name online.

Today's case in point: My Google Alert sent me to this page at Opensecrets.org. I think we can safely file this one under "Get a life." Someone took the time, and apparently a lot of it, to figure out, expense by expense, who the Democratic Party paid, and for what, during the last election cycle. Strangely enough, I show up on the list twice. The first one is my first paycheck, with my middle initial. After that, we dropped the middle initial, really, the "J" was just getting between me and my fans.

Anyway, I clicked on the other entry under me and found this. Here's the item-by-item analysis of my short period with the IDP. As you can see, I was a glutton for election day expenses.

But honestly, beyond checking to see what my co-workers made, I couldn't find any useful use for this site. and i'm a political geek. Does OpenSecrets.org really think anyone cares about the $5 the Dems spent at Loaf N Jug #28 on July 22 for "travel?"

I don't.

This has been KL Snow

Strange moment from this week: I met someone I used to work for.

Leonard Boswell (pictured) is my US Rep. I bet I asked 5000 people if they planned on voting for him last fall. He won (again) relatively easily, and I saw him for the first time on Election Night, giving his victory speech to a generally bummed room of Democrats. I've thought about it since, and only someone with an extreme ego would see a room full of people that dejected and decide to cheer them up by reminding them that he was their one success.

He used that speech to announce his intentions to run again in two years. Yeah, he's that kind of politician. He didn't tell us what he'll do or how he'll do it, he thanked us for re-electing him and announced his plan to get re-elected again.

Anyway, on election night, he entered the room for about 3 minutes, gave his speech, left, and was not seen again.

Flash forward to Friday: State Rep. and Gubernatorial Candidate Ed Fallon took his staff to lunch at Tumea & Sons, mainly so he could kick our asses at some bocce ball. On our way back to the court, we come across, of course, Boswell. The following conversation ensues:

Ed: Rep. Boswell, welcome to Congressional District 66.
Boswell: State Rep. Fallon, welcome to Congressional District 3. How goes the war?
(he was referring to the campaign for governor, I hope.)
Ed: We're trying not to call it a war. We're sticking to "the struggle against politics."
Boswell doesn't laugh.
Ed introduces his staff.
After working for Boswell for months, quitting, and now working my fourth "other job," I finally get to shake hands with my former boss.

I left thinking Boswell was somehow slimier than I had earlier envisioned. Ed and the other staff, who had met Boswell before, were just happy that he hadn't lost his mind to age. Apparently there's some concern on that subject.

There's a new link on the right hand side: It goes to another former boss, but Shawn was a good boss. He's working in DC now. The blog does a pretty good job of chronicling his adventures.

That's all for today. This has been KL Snow.

My favorite links from the week that was:

Drew Miller watched his roommate get robbed yesterday.
Headline of the week: Vilsack wants to destroy summer forever! Mwa ha ha!
He also wants us to be more like the Chinese.
Brian Schweitzer hasn't announced his candidacy for President yet, but I (and the people who run this blog) keep working on it.
If you can't beat em, just make fun of who you have access to and they don't.