Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Four tidbits this morning:

First three are from this morning's Register:

Jeff Vonk of the IDNR takes a lot of heat, some deservedly so, but this Op-Ed calling for local control of hog confinements is about as good as any I've ever seen on the topic.

Marc Hansen put two and two together in a way I hadn't previously considered in regards to Rock In Prevention...by teaching our kids that all substances are bad, aren't we creating unrealistic expectations for them? Once they realize that one beer or one hit off the bong won't kill them, isn't it natural to think they'll keep experimenting?

Taking another step, the next question: Wouldn't we create the same problem by only teaching abstinence in schools?

After months of non-linkage, State 29 was drawn in again by my posts on giant testicles and chicken shit bingo. I wonder what he'll do today when I link to a story on a car accident caused by oral sex?

Finally, hat tip to John Deeth for alerting me to SurveyUSA's approval ratings for all 100 senators. Sometimes simple things like this can show us the problem with the way we're looking at politics. My guess would be right now Congress as a whole has an approval rating somewhere in the mid 40's. But when you ask people what they think of their own senator, about 53% nationwide approve, and only about 38% disapprove. In Iowa, it's pretty rare to find Harkin and Grassley on the same side of an issue, but 55% of Iowans approve of Harkin and 64% approve of Grassley. That means, bare minimum, 19% approve of both.

So if you enjoy gridlock, partisan bashing and no progress, apparently you're not alone. 19% of Iowans are there with you.

KL

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