I am taking a break from the Emergency Management Disaster form today to head over to Omaha with Monica and her friends Cathie and Heather for the Dave Matthews concert.
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July 2008
July 22, 2008
July 13, 2008
GOP Descends on Des Moines
Yesterday I attended my first State Republican Convention in Des Moines. I was pleased to serve as a delegate from my home in Story City and to congregated with some wonderful Republicans from Story County (in photos), but I must admit that this not only put a dent in my weekend leisure time it unfortunately revealed some ugly details on what I believe is the current state of affairs with the GOP in Iowa and on the national level.
The convention started with my check in with a very adversarial tone where I had a rather odd exchange of veiled insults with the man who was responsible for clearing my credentials and supplying me with my name tag. This was an early indicator of what would pervade through the convention as a whole. I will admit that I arrived late to the event because I had to turn back near Ames to get my game ticket for last evenings Barnstormers game following the GOP event. While this provoked the ire of the badge dispersing rectum it saved me the frustration of having to twiddle my thumbs for the better part of an hour while there was a vote on rule 26 determining if they would allow nominations from the floor. This convention along with the 4th district Ft. Dodge I participated in were mired down in procedural details that tend to suck the life out of people like myself who tend to be action oriented type-A people.
Following the resolution of the rules debacle, which ultimately ended in favor of expediency we heard from Rep. Steve King and former Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
Steve King is a name that tends to be as divisive as the Iowa / Iowa State game. People either love him or they hate him. There's a lot that I tend to disagree with from Rep. King. I think he is the kind of man like the former Gov. Jesse Ventura who really has no fear to say what they believe. While I find some of his ideas and policies to be fundamentally flawed he's a person who does not fear drawing the ire of people with thin skins. He gave an interesting speech that was punctuated with a series of photos of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to draw attention to the implications of the upcoming election on Supreme Court. In this era where courage has taken a back seat to sensitivity Rep. King is a guy who has nuts of titanium and calls things as he sees it. If the left can have Jim McDermott I think it's only fair to allow us to have Rep. Steve King.
Mike Huckabee was the next speaker and I can say that I honestly believe that he is the future of the Republican party. I know that a lot lefties like to marginalize Huckabee as a religious zealot and people from our own party see him as a tax happy RINO I think there are very few Republicans who can match this man's humor, charisma and oratory skills. His commentary on how morality has implications on government and the economy was a stretch when he started but near the end I found it to be very insightful and thought provoking. I sincerely hope he makes a push again in 2012. His speech alone was worth the price of admission. It also was the best that the this event was going to get.
The meeting descended in to some nasty name calling when during the nomination speeches for the committeepersons at the national level. This led to a lot of discussion in the crowds about the divisive demeanor that the convention seemed to have, and I heard some commentary about how getting Republicans to agree is nearly implausible because we are too independent. Well here's a news flash we better get our collective shit together and point the cannons left. I think that both the Democrats and Republicans are dealing with some real problems with the internal dynamics of the parties. We see the Clinton supporters' animosity to Obama. Many may feel that it's circumstantial due to the protracted primary on the left, I feel that it's more of a cultural trend of stubbornness. I saw this in the GOP convention this weekend and could sense some real hostility in what the Des Moines Register stated this morning was an overthrow by the "Religious conservatives" of party leadership. What I see are some people with clear goals and issues taking those to task with ambiguous intentions. The GOP in Iowa and the GOP on the national level need to have a clear message and clear intentions on what they will plan to do. What are the key issues? What is our plan to implement our agenda? We need a revised and clarified brand on what being Republican means. I think once this is done that we will have Republicans in agreement and people reinforcing the party's ramparts instead of going after each other.
I found out that Newt Gingrich had pulled out of the lunch that I had paid for. I was sincerely disappointed because I didn't pay $20 to have lasagna. I paid $20 to see Newt. I thought it was pretty rotten and it may force my hand in turning in my American Solutions badge. I would have been able to go to Palmers and still have had some change left over if I had known before hand.
July 10, 2008
Good times at Barnstormer's VIP Party
My brother Chris and I were in Des Moines at the Iowa State Fairgrounds last night for the first-annual Barnstormers VIP Party.
While I felt that it was overtly targeted "family-oriented" with a lot of inflatable games which are not my bag, it was cool to hang out with the players, Coach Gregory, ownership and the cheerleaders. I was shocked to see nearly all of the people who sit by us at games there.
Thanks Barnstormers for making us feel like big corporate sponsors.
Iowa Chops?
Well, after a few weeks of speculation and debate it's official.
The Iowa Chops
The new name of Iowa's AHL Franchise.
A lot of people are hemming and hawing over the fact that it reinforces stereotypes about bucolic Iowa. I am seeing a lot of chatter on DMR site posing questions about "what will people from other states think?"
First of all, I think Iowans are inherently over sensitive about being from Iowa and being maligned with an association with anything agricultural. We are perpetually in fear that we will be perceived as "uncool" because we are from a very rural state. I would fight to say that most of the good things about living here that we have seen in recent months with the flooding here are attributable to our rural roots and farm work ethic. If someone considering a job in Des Moines did a double-take due to the fact that our minor-league hockey team was named after a meal then I would say that individual had some messed up priorities in life.
I don't particularly care for the name "Chops" I think it's just not a smoove nickname. It's abrupt.
Does it matter? No. I am going to buy "Chops" tickets because I am a hockey fan and I am going to squeeze the most I can out of AHL level hockey here for as long as possible.
Iowa Chops Hockey: Sign me up.
July 09, 2008
Barnstormers VIP Party 2 Nite!
I'm heading down to the Iowa State Fairgrounds tonight for the Iowa Barnstormers VIP (Season Ticket Holders) Party with my brother Chris.
It's one of a the nice things that the "new" Barnstormers have done for season ticket holders.
As a little background information, I bought season tickets for the Barnstormers as a gift for my brother Chris who lives in Des Moines. I have never been a particularly big arena football fan, but I thought it would be a cool gift. I went to my first few games with a raised eyebrow not knowing exactly what to expect.
Now as we near the end of the AF2 season, I will say that this has been one of the best experiences I have had as a ticket holder of any sport. Wells Fargo Arena is new and comfortable, the game is fast paced and exciting and the management puts fans first. Our tickets were inexpensive $150 a piece and we are 7 rows up for the action. hard to beat.
What had initially been a one-time purchase, after a lot of discussion with my brother we will be buying tickets again. Even without the ingratiating gesture of the party tonight, my brother and I will make Barnstormers football a yearly tradition.
