Academy of Local Politics

Big day today! Fantasy Baseball Draft Day.
Actually it is an auction of players, not a draft.

Tom Booker (Our Librarian) and myself have been partners for many years in Fantasy Baseball.
Our teams normally suck. In over 20 years, we have won the whole league, just once.
We were given the nickname of "Clippers" in comparison with another sports team,
whose futility is well documented.

The snow has melted. The Golf Course opened yesterday, and today is Baseball Draft.
Spring in Common Senseville has arrived!
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Just read an interesting article from Times Tribune in Scranton, PA about Public Access TV.
They are going to stop the showing of Council Meetings on Public Access TV.
That brought out the crowd! More than Standing Room Only.
Maybe Angell Gore should go cover that demonstration?
Sounds like it was a more interesting demonstration than the ones she wants to cover.
I know our Council would never dream of pulling the plug on our telecasts of Council Meetings.
Dorothy Malzone would have a fit.
Sometimes I say and do things just to see her fume, but that action would not be a laughing matter.

From the Bangkok Post I learned that a lack of women in politics is a problem.

"Tuenjai Buraparat, chairperson of the Association of Women Leaders for Thai Community Development, said most women lack the confidence to run against men and are afraid of losing in elections."

You know, it isn't just women who are afraid of losing in elections. I hear that all the time from guys.
"I don't want to run, because what if I lose? How could I show my face around town if I lost?"

Ahhh, the "Thrill of Victory and Agony of Defeat."
Luckily I've never lost an election. I don't know how that "agony" would feel.
The "thrill" is indeed sweet, and worth the effort.
I encourage everyone to take the chance.

Go for it gals, in Bangkok and everywhere else.
Then leave the TV cameras on, if you know what is good for you.

Mayor Al

I've been getting a number of emails and phone calls, about my new "crusade" to legalize the growing of hemp.
All the messages are negative. Luckily, it is the same old negatives that always complain to me.
Never supported me. Never will. They just like to complain.
I especially love the ones that call at 6:00 pm with the opening, "I didn't want to bother you at the office".

The last straw came in the Piggly Wiggly last night. I was ambushed in the meat section by Dorothy Malzone.
Dorothy epitomizes the citizen who has never supported me and never will. No matter what I do.
"How dare you spend City time on that issue" shouted Dorothy. I knew what issue she meant.

Dorothy, Mayors are on duty 24/7/365. Part-time pay or Full-time pay. All Mayors are on duty 24/7/365.
Following this logic, I would need Dorothy's "permission" to golf each Wednesday afternoon.
I spend City time golfing, Dorothy. What do you think of that?

When my friends start complaining about the time spent on this issue, I will listen.
But, my friends are not complaining. So, I will continue.

However, I do believe a synopsis of my position is in order.

The factors leading my position are:

1) An epiphany.

In the spirit of a good friend of mine, Mark Amtower,  and one of his tapes,
"Why Epiphanies Never Occur to Couch Potatoes" I recently had an epiphany.
After decades of "not getting it", I finally got it. Someone was finally able to make me see the agricultural side,
of the rural housing development story. This is big for me. Really big!!!

I was attending a workshop on preservation of agricultural land. Without getting into all the details, 
two of the speakers got through to me. They allowed me see it from their side.

2) How could I help our agricultural neighbors?

Agriculture is very important to the economic balance of Common Senseville.

What could this old small city boy do, to help agriculture in our region. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time, learning about an issue that was too complex for me. I needed an issue that was common sense. A no brainer.

Legalize Hemp.

Hemp can become a very valuable commodity in the Common Senseville area. Our farmland is good, not great. It is cleared forests. Some of the land is even more marginal. Hemp is a crop that could be grown very easily in our area. Less need for rain than corn. No till. No pesticides. Even profitable on small plots of land.

I could work on this issue, while other more knowledgeable ag folks work on other issues.
 
3) Hemp is not Marijuana.

Tom Riley of the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was quoted as saying:

"You have legitimate farmers who want to experiment with a new crop," Riley said. "But you have another group, very enthusiastic, who want to allow cultivation of hemp because they believe it will lead to a de facto legalization of marijuana." Mr. Riley continued with "The last thing law enforcement people need is for the cultivation of marijuana-looking plants to spread. Are we going to ask them to go through row by row, field by field, to distinguish between legal hemp and marijuana?"

Now, this is not a (D) or (R) issue.
Both parties are just as ludicrous in their handling of this issue.

The truth:

"Because cross pollination of low THC industrial hemp and high THC marijuana is inevitable illicit marijuana growers avoid industrial hemp fields to protect the potency of their drug crop. It's simply illogical that a farmer's industrial hemp fields are ideal places to hide marijuana plants with all the extra scrutiny that comes with growing the crop."

Hemp is not Marijuana. Plain and simple.
Yet, the DEA will not admit it.


4) Ethanol.

Everyone is talking about ethanol. We need to produce more ethanol.
From WWW.Planetsave.Com I read,

"From corn we derive, I believe, 60 gallons of ethanol per acre, from hemp we could obtain 600 gallons of methanol per acre. Hemp can be grown on marginal land, the yield per acre of hemp over corn is astronomical."

Let's say this is wrong. Let's say you don't get 10 times the amount of ethanol per acre.
What if you only double the production. Wouldn't that still be worth it?

5) Urban Sprawl.

One of the big reasons people want to subdivide and build on present Ag land, is economics. The land is simply worth more growing homes, not crops. We need to work to keep Ag land as valuable as possible as Ag land. In no way am I claiming Hemp will solve this economic reality. However, it will certainly help.

6) This movement is growing, but needs help.

A number of states in the past few years have considered and passed legislation which would allow for the growing and harvesting of hemp. North Dakota is taking the lead to have the DEA overturn their antiquated position. Federal legislation has been once again introduced in Congress.  Federal legislation would not be needed if the DEA would just admit the obvious, Hemp is not Marijuana. I especially like the quote from VoteHemp.Com,

"In fact, industrial hemp and marijuana are different breeds of Cannabis sativa,
just as Chihuahuas and St. Bernards are different breeds of Canis familiaris."

7) Disclaimer

"OK Mayor, what's really in it for you?"
 I admit, I do burn a corn stove for heat. If I don't have to compete with ethanol for my heating supply, my heating costs may be reduced. But, this involvement in the Legalize Hemp movement is not for personal reasons.

I only admit to this disclaimer now, because I am sure Dorothy Malzone will be writing a letter to the Common Senseville Gazette pointing this fact out and somehow criticize me for this supposed "conflict of interest". In addition to "wasting City time", Dorothy is always claiming "conflict of interest" on my part.

My only "interest" has been, and will continue to be,
to do the best job I can as Mayor of Common Senseville.
So just stick it Dorothy. It feels good to say that some days.

Mayor Al

Earlier today, I stopped in the grocery store. I was an easy target.
 In the middle of the soup aisle, a citizen launched into a dissertation of EVERYTHING  they felt was wrong with the City.

I listened. I listened some more. I listened for about 15 minutes.
I heard many complaints, but not one possible solution.
When I got back to the office I pulled the following out a file cabinet to read.
I have to do this about  about once a year.
It makes me feel better.

Author unknown 
 I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell,
They swung the beams and the sidewalls fell.
I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled,
The kind you'd hire were you to build?"
He laughed and said, "Why, no indeed!
Just common laborers are all I need.
They can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken years to do."

And I thought to myself as I went my way:

"What part in the game of life do I play?

Am I the builder who works with care,

Measuring life by the rule and the square?

Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan

Patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,

Content with the labor of tearing down?"

Mayor Al