A gold medal to the Wright-Jones for Senate campaign. A job well done!

Okay, here is a real Olympics question: On Sat. I was channel surfing the TV and first came across on C-Span the DNC setting their convention platform. Then I switched over to the Olympics and girls beach volleyball was on. Okay, Dem men, which did you prefer to watch?

I would like to give a Gold Medal to all the Center Right & Conservative posters that make this blog worth reading.
A Silver Medal for Olympic level tedium to dwalker
A Gold Medal for Olympic level oh jeez not this crap again to tim hogan
A Bronze for Olympic level bla-bla-blathering to rharnack
and a double Gold Medal (in lieu of another donut) to whomever that man in the blue XXL-shirt is:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/editorial-writers-notebooks/2008/08/rep-roy-blunt-talks-to-the-editorial-board/

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I am a Democratic woman who likewise stumbled on both the DNC platform rollout and sand volleyball. Sand volleyball was way hotter, er… more watchable, but still not as hot as the Paris Hilton rebuttal ad. Maybe the DNC should should have arranged for her to be on the dais at the convention.

What are you missing? You’re not covering the problems with the Mehlville Fire Protection District. The current board of directors is destroying what has been one of the best departments in our region. They continually break numerous laws in the process, including Missouri’s open records/meetings laws. Two firefighters were recently fired for partcipating in legal union activities, including the union president, with hardly a mention by the Post Dispatch. The BOD has been cutting services to the community and bragging only about cost reductions.

A study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and reported in the Wall Street Journal, claims that the Scottish smoking ban has reduced the heart attack rate there 17 percent. Antismoking groups like the American Cancer Society are hoping to use this study to push smoking bans in currently free cities such as St. Louis. Yet this study has been heavily criticized by secondhand smoke epidemiologist Dr. Michael Siegel who points out that Wales had the same smoking ban and the heart attack rate after the ban increased. I am talking with the Wall Street Journal about reporting the effects of the Wales smoking ban so that lawmakers in American towns such as St. Louis have full information on this issue.

http://keepstlouisfree.blogspot.com/2008/08/wales-smoking-ban-has-no-effect-on.html

Wall Street Journal article concerning Scottish heart attack study published in the New England Journal of Medicine:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121745760276798609.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

WSJ reporter Peter Singer-Vine wrote to me:

“I was not aware of Dr. Siegel’s opinions…The NEJM study appears to be more rigorous than any previous study, but as a life-long skeptic, I would like to see where the holes are if you would be willing to point them out.”

Dr. Siegel points out the holes and concludes:

“In other words, one cannot rule out the very plausible alternative hypothesis that the observed decline in heart attacks is explained by random variation in the data and the already existing secular trend of declining heart attacks in Scotland.”

http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/search?q=Apples+to+Oranges

Bill,

I am not familiar with the eminent domain petition (but if it was being handed around with the Ward Connerly anti-AA petition I would have highly avoided it). I do have a question:
Did they just collect for 6 districts? If so, why not all 9? Really, this is an important issue and if you just do the minimum you can’t expect maximum results.

Suzyjax, people with the Ward Connerly anti-AA petitions were harassed. If you allowed your papers to be searched and you just had anti-eminent domain petitions, you were left alone.

suzyjax…

In accordance Article III, Section 50 of the Missouri Constitution, the initiative petition for a constitutional amendment must be signed 8% of the registered voters in 2/3rds of Missouri’s Congressional Districts.

Collecting any signatures in the other districts would be a waste of manpower.

I hope this answers your question.