Published: June 27, 2008 11:01 pm            

Invitation ...

Monday's public forum on power plants open to all

Wanted to remind you about the Corsicana Daily Sun/KAND Radio public forum on the power plants taking place at 7 p.m. Monday at the Corsicana Public Library meeting room. We hope you plan to attend, or listen in as the forum is broadcast live on KAND Radio and on the Internet at www.kandradio.com.

The forum will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and we'll go through as many of your questions and comments as time permits during the evening. Those who wish to speak will have three minutes to state an opinion or pose a question to the individuals serving on our panel for the forum – Mayor C.L. “Buster” Brown, County Judge H.M. Davenport Jr. and Lee McCleary, the city and county economic development director.

We'll have a small form for you to fill out should you wish to speak during the forum that will ask your name and whether you are speaking for or against the plants, or just have a question to ask. We'll be working from those forms as we go through the evening.

The forum's purpose is a simple one – to allow individuals to speak openly about their thoughts and opinions. We think it will be interesting and informative, and hope you have an opportunity to attend or listen to the live radio broadcast.

Monday, 7 p.m. at the Corsicana Public Library meeting room.

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I received an e-mail Friday from the state office of one of the two major political parties in Texas. It's really not important which one – I'll probably hear something similar from the other one soon.

This particular mailing was to give party regulars a chance to “vote” on what the state organization will use as its “official bumper sticker” for the 2008 election year. There were several examples to choose from, whittled down, they said, from numerous entries submitted by party faithful.

Vote on the favorite, the one with the most votes wins (I guess that's how they'll do it) – seems like the “All-American” way, right.

Here's the really funny part, though.

Not a single one of the finalists in the running for the “official bumper sticker” said anything about that party's candidate. Not a single one.

Four of the five final slogans did contain the other party's opponent's name, however, all of them in a negative vein. While the fifth didn't mention the other party's name, it did mention the other party.

And, only one of the five finalists mentioned its own party.

All in all, it came across to me as a very sad commentary on politics in our great state of Texas, although it's not really any different any other state in our nation. Nothing positive, all negative. No attempt to say why one candidate is better, only why the other candidate is bad.

And, sadly, not the least bit surprising.

I've written before that I don't consider myself a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian or Klingon. I think in my lifetime, I've probably in some race or another voted for a candidate from all of those parties (except for a Klingon, of course. As Captain James T. Kirk reminds us, “A Klingon can't be trusted”).

My mind is made up by deciding which candidate, in my opinion, is going to do the best to meet the needs of all concerned by telling me what they consider important, and what they plan to do about it. It's that simple.

If all a candidate (or party) has to offer me is why the other candidate is bad, or why the other candidate's ideas are bad — in the words of Tony Soprano — fugetaboutit. Not listening.

And quite frankly, in regards to the e-mail I received that started this whole conversation — I am very disappointed in that party.

I expected far more of them. Now I know better.

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Bob Belcher is Managing Editor of the Daily Sun. His column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com.

        

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