HometownSource Blogs

Ok, so the truth is I can’t stay away. I love this place and take great pride in the fact that I helped build it. But it requires some sort of policy implementation that protects the best interests of ECM, ECM Blogs, and the authors themselves. Recently, some events have occurred that make it imperative such a policy is adopted.

As such, we can wait for corporate to form a committee, weigh dozens of pros and cons, suggest rewrites, have lawyers give an official approval and then, maybe three months from now, we would have a policy that protects both the company and the authors.

Then I thought, THIS IS A BLOG. The spirit of a blog is open forum and transparency. What better place to open a policy discussion than right here on the home page?

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Are we still having a debate about whether or not torture is okay? Are we still trying to justify the killing and maiming of civilians during times of war?

Apparently so.

This week, Great Britain along with representatives of more than 100 countries gathered in Dublin, Ireland and agreed on a draft treaty to ban current designs of cluster bombs and destroy stockpiles within eight years.

Our United States didn’t want any part of it. The United States didn’t even send an envoy to the conference.

PHOTO: A cluster bomb victim in Vietnam. Read more »

Last night I went to the Triple Rock Social Club to watch one of my favorite bands M83.

Being an old man I decided to forgo the openers and take a nap after work in preparation. I’m really glad I did. It turns out M83 has really grown in popularity since the last time I saw them (2 years ago). The place was packed. As much as I like to hear new music I think my dislike of being crammed in wall to wall people is far greater. Also on Wednesday nights it appears that the Triple Rock does 2 for ones of PBR and free bacon. While this may sound appealing to some(not me) it makes for a really stinky audience, I’ll leave that to your imagination.

The show itself was pretty decent I’d give it a B-, They did a really good job of playing songs from all of their albums, rather then playing everything on their new album and tossing in one or two of their popular songs from past albums.

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Deciding to take a break from the recent more controversial posts, I’ve decided to give some what of a shout out to families.

Let me start by saying, there’s many things in life I just don’t understand Like why they sterilize needles for lethal injections, or why we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway. But you know what? Whether I ever find the answer or not simply doesn’t matter to society as a whole, or even on an individual basis.

However, obesity, specifically in children stumps me because I don’t know why most people just let it happen. Read more »

I picked this album up a few weeks back and it’s been steadily gobbling up my playtime. Very dancy british rock type stuff.

I’ve been a big fan of the band “Battles” that has been receiving a lot of attention this year and was referred to Foals as a result. Battles is an instrumental band but not really in the jam/rock band sort of way. I’d compare their sound to more an electronic/techno type ensemble.
Well Foals does seem to follow suit, the same patterns and rhythms are there but we also get some vocals. I think their strongest point might also be their weakest point. I can listen to the album from start to finish and love every minute of it, but I think it’s mostly because so many of their songs sound so similar. So with that being said the downfall of this album will be when one of the tracks starts to annoy me, the rest of the album is soon to follow.

If you want to know more check out their website here.

Welcome to Jason Olson, the newest addition to the ECM Blogs family. This sports blogger’s first post is up.

Although I have sincerely enjoyed my time here, the goal was always to get things going and provide a demonstration for those in the ECM family who might appreciate an example of how blogs work. Given the amount of bloggers now writing here, and the frequency of new blogfodder, that job is no longer necessary.

Frankly, between work and home I have enough to keep me busy until Kingdom come and the added strain of keeping this blog going is proving to be too much.

It is my hope that ECM will keep the UpsiderBlog archive active for awhile, but I suspect the graphic and link will be removed from the front page blogroll in short order.

I would like to thank ECM for providing this platform, which is sure to provide entertainment and insight for the foreseeable future, and to readers who have made my little corner a regular stop. I sure would love to stay in touch so drop me a line at patrick.tepoorten@ecm-inc.com.

Thanks again, and that concludes our regular broadcast day…

Welcome to the Thisweek Newspapers Sports Department blog, “A view from the Pressbox”. This is Jason Olson and I’ll be doing the majority of the upkeep on the blog with help from Andy Rogers on occasion. On this blog we’ll let you know what’s happening in the south metro sports scene from high school, club sports to individual organizations latest and greatest happenings. We will also use this medium to give a more opinionated and first-hand approach to stories and games we cover.

Just like the summer that hasn’t arrived yet (no 80 degree days by May 24), the start of “A View from the Pressbox” has been a bit behind the calender too. For the past month myself (Jason) and Andy have been trying to keep ahead of the always-busy south metro sports scene. Read more »

On this day honoring the fallen heroes that have protected our way of life for generations going back to the beginning, see ECM’s Hometown Heroes for stories about those heroes, past and present.

Columnist Tom Mountain has an excellent piece today, on the fallen heroes of Newton.

Blackfive pays tribute.

If you’re looking for a fascinating story, might I suggest that of General Joseph Bailey (1825 – 1867), whose engineering prowess and dam knowledge, learned as a logger in Wisconsin, saved Union Commander David Dixon Porter’s fleet on the Red River near Alexandria, LA. in 1864. I understand the ruins of Bailey’s dams are still visible to this day.

In which a commentator on Rupert Murdoch’s payroll refers to Obama as Osama and then jokes that they should both be killed. There’s your “liberal media” at work again.

The Poynter Institute is one of those resources that journalists usually pay very close attention to. I wonder if they’ll pay attention to its latest poll consumer quality poll on Iraq coverage.

Almost a majority, 47% – rate the media coverage “poor.” Another 33% rate it “fair.” Only 16% rate it “good,” and a paltry 2% rate it excellent. That adds up to 18% of largely “active consumers of news” with a positive view of Iraq coverage.

With everything else happening in the news industry, it is a poor time to have let news consumers down to this extent. Ed Morrissey puts that number in perspective, noting that President Bush has better numbers. In fact, Bush has numbers a full 12 points better, although Congress is giving “the media” a run for its money.

So what’ missing? Here’s the top five:

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Via True North, if I had a dollar for every time I got an e-mail from a critic of one of my global warming columns the cited Paul Douglas as an expert, I’d have at least five bucks. Brian Lambert sure thought he was credible:

…it seems valid to me that those charming, glib people clicking through the weather maps offer a clue to their, uh, educated opinion on climate change.

Less than a year later, Mike Fairbourne’s opinion is not quite as valid:

The fundamental issue in this “debate” is, of course, politics, not science. Fringe groups such as the OISM, to which Mike Fairbourne lent his name, are invariably politically conservative–deeply conservative –and attack “consensus science” of actual experts, as opposed to TV weathermen…

Support the “science” and it is to your “eternal credit” according to Lambert. Point out how poor the science is and you are just a weatherman. In other words, meteorologists suddenly don’t really know what they are talking about. So says Lambert…a media critic.

The talk is of comparisons, between Obama and Rev. Wright and McCain and the the right-wing’s mob of eccentric reverends. But this should not be an issue!

Can’t people just accept that a politician has to do what a politician has to do. It’s about winning. I might really dislike the San Antonio Spurs, but it doesn’t mean if I was trying to put together a winning team I wouldn’t want Duncan and Parker on my side.

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The U.N. is Johnny on the Spot in Myanmar, providing the essentials a cyclone-torn populace needs in the wake of tragedy:

The United Nations will send nearly a quarter of a million condoms into cyclone-hit Myanmar to help needy survivors with no access to contraceptives, a UN official says.

So far, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said it had sent 72 800 condoms to survivors struggling to maintain their family planning after the storm hit in early May.

Oh, sweet blessed relief from suffering.

For some reason, I can’t get the image of 72,800 condoms, attached to 72,800 tiny parachutes, descending from the sky like the Airborne at Normandy.

After reading through some comments from the seat belt debate post, I felt it only neccesary to talk about the smoking ban.

First, let me state that I am no longer a smoker (it’s been about four months), but I was for close to 12 years, and the smoking bans have made me stand outside when it’s negative 20 with numb fingers and a Marlboro Light in mouth. So I do understand some of the woes. Read more »

Maybe Apple Valley isn’t meant to have a walkable downtown, where people can live, work, play and shop without getting into cars. Maybe the big-box intersection of 42 and Cedar is all the downtown that city and its residents want. Or maybe building a more traditional downtown in a classic car-oriented suburb just takes a little longer than advocates for such projects would like. Read more »