Sunday, July 23, 2006

Johncombest.com has new Look

The indispensable companion of Missouri's political junkies, johncombest.com has been redesigned. The new site is clean and attractive and powered by the blogging software WordPress. The site promises a RSS feed soon (something I've long advocated for). There is no word about re-starting his short-lived (but appreciated) podcast.

Still, anytime you want to quibble about the content on johncombest, you are reminded of the tag line of "Missouri's political news website since Oct. 2001." Every morning (I'd say like the US Postal service, but that might offend a good Republican like John!) for the past five years, he has posted links to the significant Missouri political news. It is an impressive run and the new look is a welcome development. John may have started the site for his fellow Republicans, but we all benefit.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Moving Past Church Mission Statements to the True Work . . .

Words matter. However for many in the church, time spent on congregational mission statements is a very frustrating experience. I think that is largely because most congregations are not truly ready to fully engage in that process because there are too many underlying issues in their group. The "word-smithing" of a mission statement becomes a way to fight out the larger issues in the congregation without every acknowledging they are there.
Another problem can come when the congregation comes up with a "All Babies Must Eat" mission statement--something no one disagrees with, but is just so perfectly obvious you wonder why you need to put it in print.
As I've been thinking about these issues without he church, I'm again drawn to the work of Bill Easum. He has a great article talking about "Clarifying Our Mission, Vision, and Values." All three are important and Easum acknowledges the hard work to discern where God is calling a congregation. Definitely worth a read.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

RightMissouri Hacked?

I was a regular reader of the conservative blog RightMissouri.Com. They have taken down their site a couple of months ago and passed the conservative blog mantle to The Source. However, RightMissouri site is still on my Bloglines Feed list. I noticed today the message is displayed, "hacked_by_Darkman_((turkish_hacker))." A click on the link will take you a web created by "Darkman which contains some pro-Islamic and anti-Western rants.
Perhaps a good reminder that no matter how many differences I ever had with RightMissouri, we have much more in common than the forces in the world who might wish to destroy our way of life.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Featured on KC Buzz Blog

In the blogging world you probably don't even get 15 minutes of fame, probably more like 1.5 minutes. But a small flash for me. Kit Wagar, Statehouse Reporter for the KC Star writes about my blog entry at Buzz Blog where I noted how polling form, American Viewpoint still list convicted candidate Adam Taff on their client list. John Combest (who I got the initial info from) links to the KC Buzz Blog story in today's news roundup. Oh, how little it takes to excite a blogger! ;-)

Monday, July 03, 2006

Great news from OfficeMax . . .

I write about many important issues on this site, but nothing I've ever written has been as important or exciting as this important news:
OfficeMax Inc., one of the nation's leading office-supply chains, is eliminating almost all retail mailin-rebate programs--long a source of consumer angst--effective Sunday. Instead, shoppers will see immediate discounts in product pricing at the cash register.
Here is hoping that this is a start of a global trend! ;-)

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Polling and Fraud?

John Combest has an exclusive which shows polling data that incumbent congressman Todd Adkins (from Eastern Missouri) is ahead of his primary challenger state representative, Sherman 77% to 3%. Wow, it appears that landslide might be too mild of a word.

The polling firm was American Viewpoint, which handles a number of republican clients. However, what I found interesting is their listing of those clients. They display the name of former Kansas Republican fith congressional district candidate nominee, Adam Taft. Hmmm, perhaps somone should let American Viewpoint know that their former client was convicted of wire fraud with campaign contributions. He might not represent the image that the firm is wanting to project--but what do I know!