Archive for July 28th, 2008

Saturday morning I got the chance to participate in a motorcycle ride with none other than Governor Mitch Daniels. The Governor arrived on his Harley, and when he arrived he took a few minutes to look at the other bikes at the rally point. There was about 20 or so bikes for the first leg of the trip - going from 79th & Fall Creek to Cicero via Lapel. Nice ride on a Saturday morning, through the Indiana country. Ahhhhh….. Just a bunch of guys out for a ride.

[More Below The Fold]

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You’ve no doubt heard the radio ads from Texas Oilman T. Boone Pickens claiming we need to change our energy policy away from oil. Pickens has invested his own money into over 600 windmills for peak power generation.

Now,  Pickens is making the case to fuel vehicles with natural gas calling it a clean burning fuel. Pickens is calling on Congress to mandate Government vehicles as well as company fleets to use natural gas burning vehicles in new vehicle purchases going forward. Privately owned vehicles will not fall into this requirement.

(The hearing will be broadcast at Josh in theBox as I’ve been having trouble getting it to load on wordpress)

The hearing is scheduled to start at 1:00. The first panel will include:

Michael A. Brairton, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy
Dr. William A. Ellingson, Ph.D, former Principal Scientist, the Argonne National Laboratory
Maggie McShane, American Petroleum Institute

Panel two will be:

Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, Host of “Abdul in the Mornings” on Newstalk 1430 AM WXNT, Indianapolis
Jim Shella, Host of “Indiana Week in Review” and Political Reporter WISH-TV, Indianapolis
Joshua Gillespie, Blogger and Founder of “Hoosier Access”, a political and cultural blog in Indianapolis

From the opinion page of Terre Haute’s Tribune-Star comes this delightful letter:

Dem candidate a disappointment

I am disappointed with Jill Long-Thompson’s campaign games. While Indiana’s economic situation is clearly an important political issue, she fails to list her positions on social issues like abortion and gay marriage on her Web site.

Could it be because she wants to avoid advertising that large portions of her campaign funding come from Emily’s List, an organization that supports candidates who favor abortion-friendly policies?

Thompson’s runningmate, Dennie Oxley, has been called pro-life and voted in favor of an amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman. He should be ashamed of himself, having compromised his own values to jump onto the ticket of a candidate who refuses to stand against gay marriage and who will be looking for ways to return the monetary favors from Emily’s List in the form of pro-abortion political action.

— Carly Robbins, Terre Haute

It’s an interesting point. Nowhere on Long Thompson’s website does it say a word about her positions on various social or traditional values issues.

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It just so happens that your friendly neighborhood HA Director will be a panelist at this event. I’m also working on being able to broadcast this hearing live via webcam.

Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-5) announced this week that he would be holding a District Hearing on Energy. He has invited a number of energy experts, community leaders and media personalities to discuss the current energy crisis and how we can work to solve these problems in both the short and long term. The conference is open to the public and is scheduled for Monday, July 28 at 1 p.m.

Burton stated, “With energy prices as out-of-control as they are, I thought Hoosiers needed the chance to not only talk about the current energy crisis, but also to address potential solutions. Congress has failed in making any strides toward real energy relief for the American people the past few months and I hope that this hearing will not only inform people about the current problems and how to deal with them, but also spur them to pressure all their public officials to take meaningful, positive steps toward real energy reform in our country.”

(See more details and how to attend if you’re a blogger who is interested in attending below the fold) (more…)