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Sunday, April 22, 2012

A Great Sunday Read

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I really enjoyed reading my Sunday Victoria Advocate this morning. The topics were tailored made for my enjoyment...There was the Chevy Volt article. Another one on the EPA, and even Michael Reagan came through with an insightful article about the recent GSA scandal. As always, Tina Dupuy wrote an excellent piece, and my wife said that the Parade issue about hoarding, described me to a tee.

I know I'm biased, but the Toyota Prius is a lot better than the Chevy Volt from what I read this morning. I don't have a plug- in, but I can ride around town all day at 35 miles an hour without using gasoline. According to my owner's manual, my "hybrid battery is recharged either through regenerative braking (kinetic energy from coasting/slowing down spins a generator to make potential energy in the battery) and/or by taking excess power from the gasoline engine (use the gasoline engine as a generator) to recharge the hybrid battery. There is no plug. No charging off the mains/local electric supply." I don't have to worry about being stranded at the airport. Mr. Griffin thinks the Volt is expensive, well that's about what I paid for my Prius in 2007. The Volt may have some new gadgets but the Prius has more than its share. The only negative I can see about the Prius is being stranded without a Toyota dealer in sight. I believe every small town has a Chevrolet dealer, but it may not have a Volt mechanic. Having to replace the battery pack after eight years of use, is a another negative.

Sonny Long wrote about the Victoria County Democrats supporting the legalization of marijuana. Why? How is that issue going to help the party? It seems like the emphasis would be on strategic way to get more Democrats elected. Unless I missed it, I didn't see environmental issues in the mix. Energy has always been a part of the Texas economy. The oil and gas industry will always have Republican support. The Democrats need to jump on the side of alternative sources.

There wasn't much Earth Day coverage, in fact, more attention was paid to 4/20 Day (4/20, which is slang for smoking marijuana) and the unveiling of the Willie Nelson statue in Austin, Texas. I think the climate-change argument has been lost for now, because of the bad economy. People just can't get excited enough to do anything to curtail the use of fossil fuels right now. That’s too bad. At least, the positive article about the EPA might make people aware of that agency's importance; I think the pictures were a nice touch.

I'm a little late in coming to the sewage plant issue, but I like Denise Rangel's answer of using modern technology over repairs and if it's correct that smell is no longer an issue, then location shouldn't be an issue. Like I said, I'm very late coming to this issue, so I might have missed a lot. I'm only going by today's article.

On another issue, wasn't the school board's decision on the standardized test is a bold proactive step in the right direction? We need to continue to keep the lines of communication open because eventually the good ideas will seep through the white noise.

5 comments:

Rebecca said...

Now I won't have anything to gripe about!

Edith Ann said...

You have missed a lot. Yes, her sentiments are great, but it is all that happened BEFORE the study was done that identified SIX properties. The property was bought, then the study was commissioned.

Kevin McNary, an affected party, visited the Sugarland plant and found there was not only odor, but effluent runoff in a mall parking lot.

Site #5, as I pointed out on the VA thread would have been a better choice. It meets all of the criteria, and would have been even further from homes.

Mike said...

Just about every topic at the VA is being turned into a political one ...I love it...:-)

I'm not sure how county and state platforms are created..The GOP wants to tackle the UN and Obama Care and the Dems marijuana?

I would think they are better suited for sate and local issues and let the RNC & DNC handle foreign policy and national domestic issues.

Edith Ann said...

Everything trickles up. I think it is the rare case that something that starts at the local level makes its way to the top, but it is possible that it happens. The republicans passed a resolution about the Healthcare Act. We all know that is already on the national radar, this act was just and exercise in written support of national stuff. Same for the Dems--our Voter ID resolution is something thatt has been much discussed.

The truth is, on a local level, it is probably just busy work to fill time once the delegagtes are elected. Gotta have something to make the morning seem productive!

Mike said...

EA
I agree that it's probably busy work but the rhetoric sounds so amateurish...Are they really going to discuss the U.N. at the state convention? On the other hand when they are talking about repealing Obama Care without anything to replace it with or coming out with a plan of their own is totally irresponsible ,especially since our state is already rank near the bottom on providing health care.

Another example, a couple posters tried to make a big deal of Ms Harrison's words, where she said that republicans wanted their women to stay in the kitchen... They took the words literally not knowing the basis of the remarks...