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Jul

31

Remains of the Day, 7-31-07

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1. Can this possibly be worth $500? Or, maybe the question is, can I be so desperate to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing with my life that I’d waste a birthday gift request on it? Mmmm – I think I’m going to have to be a lot more desperate. In the meantime, I’ll just live with this manifesto. Maybe I could just graft one of these? I do like their web designer.

2. I am not a fashion plate. And I’ve written before about how I’m not really sure how I feel about the Ladies Who Launch. But I continue to get their regular newsletters because some days, I get ones that feature women and efforts like this one. If you didn’t click yet, I will tell you that it’s a clothing company, started by an Afghan woman, educated in the States, that operates in Kabul. The business plan won her awards while in school and I have to say, the clothing looks beautiful. Hmmm, birthday, birthday, birthday….

3. I don’t watch Bill O’Reilly precisely because why would I subject myself to wasting time listening to someone who says what he says? The italics are to emphasize that I do not understand why people waste their time watching stuff they know has so little value (I’m not saying O’Reilly has so little value – I’m saying, why do people who keep complaining about him still watch him). Whatever. Anyway – I guess he’s been nasty to Daily Kos – you know what? So have I. But if it’s been to the point that Chris Dodd is going on to defend blogs, well, hey – it must be bad because I really like Dodd and he’s not going to subject himself to O’Reilly and O’Reilly’s core audience unless there’s something to it. I signed the petition. H/t Cliff Schecter.

4. What if Ohio legislators Josh Mandel and Shannon Jones had used this tactic re: divestment?

5. Contemplating Israeli army options, from the viewpoint of A Mom in Israel (who, by the way, was born in the Midwest) (I didn’t say where, I didn’t say where!).

6. Now this is the kind of post I can really support as being the fodder for a blog like Buckeye State Blog. #1 – It helps me get a grip on what exactly is going on. #2 – It compares what’s going on between campaigns. #3 – It helps people who care about one candidate or another figure out if they want to get involved or not, just yet, by implying where there might be opportunities. #4 – It provides a baseline from which we can measure the effort the candidates are putting in in Ohio. I hope Jerid keeps this kind of post as a monthly or at least quarterly feature between now and this time next year.

7. This rabbi wasn’t familiar to me, but may she rest in peace. I’m certain that her role in women taking on leadership position in the Jewish religion has had repercussions that have affected me.

8. Okay. See? This is why I absolutely HATED that damn Issue 3 amendment language. So much of what they call legislation is pure, unadultered, would never pass an Ohio proficiency exam crap. Argh. And then they expect citizens to follow it? And enforcers to enforce what they can’t even read and judges interpret the uninterpretable? Double Argh. Thanks for reminding what drives me nuts about the law, Bill.

9. TV Anchors subjected to ridicule. Awwww.

Not.

10. Want to stop the war? Listen to CPN’s Sound of Ideas tomorrow to hear advice from Harvey Pekar.

11. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me why there is only ONE WOMAN named to the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation board? Are you serious that there was only one, for one of eleven seats, who made the grade? I find that impossible. Paging Frances Strickland.

12. East Cleveland Roots News. Trying to get some action going there.

13. David Brennan’s name has not been treated well in Colorado – I’ve linked to stories there before. Now Plunderbund’s got more on Bad. News. Brennan.

14. READ CHAS RICH. READ CHAS RICH. READ CHAS RICH.

15. Plain Dealer Doh moment of the day.

16. Could the media PLEASE indicate that we’re not even talking about paid leave for moms – we’re talking about taking time off, period. Damn but our country can be so backwards sometimes.

This list made me so tired.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:42 pm July 31st, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments 

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Jul

31

Don’t talk to me about being a self-hating Jew

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Just read this. If it’s true, I can think of a lot more things I’m interested in hating way ahead of myself.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:58 pm July 31st, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off 

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Jul

31

Enough about Hillary’s cleavage

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Ellen Goodman helps the effort to examine Hillary Clinton’s cleavage come to a close in this column, Political Fashionbabble. Likewise, NPR’s Talk of the Nation chatted with Goodman today and you can listen to it here (after 6pm today) about the same subject.

Could you imagine what we might be able to accomplish in this world if as much time was spent on issues we should be cleaving to rather than a non-issue like Hillary’s sternum?

Goodman was a Spring 2007 Shorenstein Fellow, looking at the new gender gap in the news media and the Internet. I am eager to read what she wrote as a result of her work.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:24 pm July 31st, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off 

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Jul

31

More female political ascension: GOPper from DE becomes NCSL prez

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And, although Delaware state representative Donna Stone (R-Dover South) won’t be the first female president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, she is the first female Republican president of the NCSL.

More here, here and here for more about Stone.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:27 pm July 31st, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off 

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Jul

31

Questions for Jane Platten, Director, Cuyahoga County BOE

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If you had an Ohio county’s chief elections person in a room with not too many people for more than an hour, what would be your must-know the answer to this question? I’ll have a chance tomorrow at the Pepper Pike Democratic Club’s monthly meeting. Jane Platten, the new Director of the Board of Elections, will be addressing the group. You can read more about her here. Feel free to leave the questions in the comments or email me.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:37 pm July 31st, 2007 in Politics | 17 Comments 

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Jul

31

Remains of the Day, 7-30-07

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Eyes barely open.

1. Is this double-dipping okay? As more and more people are retiring, and there will be more and more, are we really sure we want to ban retire-rehire scenarios? This is not something that has an easy answer.

2. I’ve asked this question of other people probably ten times, googled it myself, read the instructions at Blogger 1000 times and so on. But I think this post really might help me. The thing I can’t quite figure out is: I need to make a new path at my jillmillerzimon.com site, yes? And a button for people to hit that would make WLST show up at jillmillerzimon.com, right?

3. Bill does a fantastic job deconstructing the Plain Dealer’s editorial on the Third Frontier. I swear, I think the PD is bipolar sometimes. They love him, they hate him, they’ll leave him, they’ll take him. Whatever. I don’t know what to expect from a paper anymore – but then that’s part of the problem for papers, isn’t it?

4. I’m not much into name-calling, but I gotta tell you – the way the Republican candidates are freaking out over the CNN/YouTube debates – criminal and immature at the same time. You want people to vote for you, but you don’t want to have to answer to them, in even the most transparent way possible? That is not the quality of a leader – period. And everyone should remember that.

5. The rooms did look pretty nice (I know I know – I still haven’t written about that trip there). Now – if they came with babysitters or something….

6. With one simple link, Nixguy brings up a very interesting set of questions that, on the surface, might seem easy to answer. But, I posit in comments there, are not.

Exactly 21 days until the school’s opening ice cream social.

AAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:49 am July 31st, 2007 in Politics | 7 Comments 

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Jul

31

National Conf. of State Legislatures waives registration fee for bloggers at annual event

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The short version: read more here. And here’s NCSL’s home page.

The long version: A fellow blogger who noticed that I like the NCSL resources emailed me news about the group’s annual summit that happens this weekend (Aug. 5-9) in Boston (see the schedule here). I wrote NCSL to confirm the details and here’s the response:

We do consider bloggers for admission as media to our Legislative Summit. Each blogger’s request for credentials is considered on a case-by-case basis as all requests to attend as media are. Feel free to share this info with your fellow bloggers. I’d be happy to answer any questions they might have.

P.S. There’s even free wi-fi access throughout the convention center in Boston – perfect for live blogging!

Here’s the contact info:

Bill Wyatt
Director of Media Relations
National Conference of State Legislatures
444 North Capitol Street NW
Suite 515
Washington, D.C. 20001
Office: (202) 624-8667
Cell: (202) 413-0534
E-Mail: william.wyatt@ncsl.org

If I’d done just a wee bit more planning, I actually might have been able to go this year but camp schedules and visitors’ trips won’t make it possible. Next year, though? New Orleans. I’m always looking for an excuse to go back there. Hmm – wouldn’t it be fun to present there? Though I’m sure that the majority of legislators still don’t want to have much to do with bloggers on any regular basis.

Finally, I did a little inquiring about whether members of our Ohio legislature pay attention to NCSL and it appears that indeed they do. I’m told that at least several members of each House caucus tend to go, with there being four caucuses (if I got that right). Don’t know about the Senate side but I would imagine that the numbers are parallel.

Buckeye State Blog was writing today about leadership in the Ohio state legislature. Would you think that this weekend in Boston some good before, during and after hours conversations might go on regarding that very same topic?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:10 am July 31st, 2007 in Politics | 4 Comments 

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