We need to back up and share Romney videos from this site

Video content distribution

We need to back up and share Romney videos from this site

There are a lot of reasons to back up, archive, and distribute Mitt Romney videos. First of all, they will go away from his Massachusetts site when Romney is no longer Governor. Have you been to that site? There are over 100 videos! That is enough to fill a DVD! In fact that is a good idea. Could we make DVD's of that these? I would rather watch Romney on a DVD than on my lap top.

Also there are places like Google Video (http://video.google.com) and You Tube (http://www.youtube.com) that will archive and distribute anyone's videos for free.

The question may come up of weather or not Governor Romney wants these distributed. Well of course he does! He approved them being put on his site!

Also, in his book, Turnaround, Mitt mentioned managers that like to focus on their employee's weaknesses and try to "fix" their problems. However, his managerial strategy is to higher people for their strengths, and if someone has a weakness, he hires someone else to compensate for that weakness. Maybe the connection is a stretch, but I think we can do the same thing with Mitt. Maybe something that he said can be seen as a weakness, and so maybe we shouldn't facilitate its distribution. However, on the other hand, if we share tons of Mitt Romney videos, people won't just see that statement in context of that statement, they will see the bigger picture of which he is and what he stands for.

Which brings me back to his father's "mistake". His father changed his mind of Vietnam. At first he agreed with the generals. He thought they could win, and he wanted to give them a chance. He went over to Vietnam to see things for himself. What the generals showed him re-assured him, and he supported them for a while longer. But the more he thought about it, he decided to change his mind. He tried to explain how the generals had put their best foot forward, and not really been completely honest about their progress. He said that they had brain washed him. The secretary of defense attacked Romney at that time, very viciously. However, before he died, he admitted that they had lied to the high level people that toured Vietnam, and Romney's dad felt much vindicated.

So what does Romney need to learn from his father's experience? To be very careful and not say anything stupid? I don't think so. The Mayer of Chicago speaks his mind. He does not sound rehearsed. He sounds like he is giving you the straight scoop. To an outside observer, it sounds like he is saying something stupid every day. But people love him for it. He over communicates, and sure people try to take his words out of context, and they laugh, but he doesn't care. He is a very interesting person, and people like watching train wrecks! I wish Romney's dad had fought back harder. He didn't say anything to be embarrassed of. I think he was on the side of the right. Well, history proved that he was on the right side. Maybe he didn't give up, but that is how it seems to me.
People are trying to take Mitt Romney out of context already. But if he floods us with content, and goes around the Media, I don't think they will be able to do it. If I was him, I would start his own pod cast. Be the first pod casting presidential candidate. Let him respond to the news as he drives into work., or jogs. Lets hear him rant!

The days are over when you wanted to control your message. You just have to open the spiket, and distribute your content to who ever wants it. There are millions of bloggers, and voters, each with different taste and interest. You can't try and guess what will be the best Mitt Romney content to distribute, you just make it all available, and let people figure out for themselves what is the best video, speech, picture, press release, or action.

Lets not think about it. It is obvious that we want more people to be exposed to videos of Mitt. Let's just do it.

If Mitt Romney's campaign is going to have the most impressive online campaign, we are going to have to do a better job.

Other things we could do with the video's
1. I do not know what percentage of these videos have transcripts. Maybe each of us should commit to finding or making the transcript of one video.
2. Maybe we could upload the content to the I-Pod store. Does anyone have a video I-pod? Does anyone know how to make content for a video I-Pod?

Technical problems
1. Or better yet, if you know how to capture video, you could upload it to this site: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=mitt+romney As you can see there is only one video available. Or here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search=mitt+romney&search_type=search_videos&search=Search
2. When I tried downloading the video's and uploading them to Google Video or YouTube, it didn't work. A friend told me that the files are streaming from "Akamai" and that the files are "actually the streaming hint file". Does anyone know how to fix this?

Mitt and Ann Romney with their family and their dog, Marley.

Mitt, Ann and Mitt's parents

Mitt and Ann Romney as teenagers

The Romney family

06-30-05

Governor Mitt Romney, joined by members of his cabinet, signed into law a $23.8 billion budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

07-14-05

Governor Mitt Romney testified before the Judiciary Committee on his proposed death penalty bill. The legislation calls for corroborating scientific evidence, multiple layers of review and a new “no doubt” standard of proof.

07-20-05

Reaffirming his commitment to create a state government that reflects the entire Massachusetts community, Governor Mitt Romney swore in 12 new members of the Latino-American Advisory Commission.

07-20-05

Governor Mitt Romney met with nurses and patients from the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center after making an announcement about next phase of his healthcare reform plan to expand access to affordable health insurance.

08-18-05

Governor Mitt Romney participated in a send-off ceremony at the National Guard Armory in West Newton for the 685^th Finance Detachment of the Massachusetts National Guard being deployed overseas.

09-08-05

Governor Mitt Romney and hundreds of volunteers were on hand today at Otis Air Force Base to greet the first evacuees to arrive by airlift in Massachusetts from the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast .

09-22-05

After filing education reform legislation that would give every middle and high school student in Massachusetts a laptop computer, Governor Mitt Romney checked out the prototype of a one hundred dollar laptop with the founding chairman of MIT’s Media Laboratory, Nicholas Negroponte.

10-13-05

Sgt. Peter Damon and his wife Jenn gave Governor Romney a tour of the home that was specially built for their family by Homes for Our Troops.

10-28-05

As Governor Mitt Romney signed into law the toughest drunk driving legislation in the Commonwealth’s history, he was joined by legislators and the family of Melanie Powell, the 13-year-old girl for whom the legislation was named.

11-20-05

Governor Mitt Romney signed legislation to lower the property tax burden for Massachusetts senior citizens, which he said will help more seniors stay in their homes.

11-23-05

Governor Mitt Romney served turkey at the Morgan Memorial Goodwill Annual Thanksgiving Dinner at Goodwill's Headquarters in Roxbury.

12-08-05

Governor Mitt Romney signed legislation that prevents thousands of Massachusetts taxpayers from having to pay retroactive taxes on financial transactions that occurred more than three years ago. Under the new law, no additional taxes are due and affected taxpayers may disregard any retroactive bills they received.

12-16-05

Governor Mitt Romney inspected the State Police trainees during the 78^th Recruit Training Troop’s graduation ceremony in Worcester.

01-11-06

Calling education “an essential investment” in the state’s future, Governor Mitt Romney appeared before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education to outline his reform proposals to bolster Massachusetts schools and improve student performance across the board.

01-18-06

Governor Mitt Romney in his annual State of the Commonwealth address this evening declared Massachusetts “resilient, robust, and strong.” The Governor announced a $200 million reserve fund to pay for health care reform and proposed a new plan to lower the income tax rate to 5 percent over two years.

01-23-06

Governor Mitt Romney was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Tim Murphy as he announced during a news conference at the State House that he will establish a panel to review the case history of Haleigh Poutre. “I believe that the people in DSS did what they believed was right. No human is omniscient. But I wonder whether any changes in protocol or procedure may reduce the likelihood of error in the future,” Romney said.

01-25-06

With revenues rising and reserves at record levels, Governor Mitt Romney filed a Fiscal Year 2007 budget that proposes significant new spending in education, health care and local aid while also cutting taxes. For the fourth year in a row, the Governor’s budget is balanced and maintains the Commonwealth’s financial stability.

02-21-06

Governor Mitt Romney was joined by Mass. Secretary of Economic Development Ranch Kimball as he announced Massachusetts Business Connect, a new initiative to help companies build business relationships that will create new deals and jobs in the state.

03-16-2006

Governor Mitt Romney announced that the state will invest $516.5 million in Commonwealth Capital funds to build housing near public transit, improve water quality and sewer service and upgrade transportation and environmental infrastructure to support smart growth across Massachusetts.

03-30-2006

Governor Mitt Romney took aim at gang violence and witness intimidation by signing into law a measure that gives prosecutors the tools they need to protect witnesses.

04-12-2006

Governor Mitt Romney signed landmark legislation today that through a private, market-based reform will make health insurance available to every resident of Massachusetts within the next three years.

04-24-2006

Governor Mitt Romney, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Senator Edward Kennedy announced that Massachusetts has been awarded a $16 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that will help to establish a state-of-the-art nanotechnology research center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Nanotechnology is an emerging field that develops atomic level materials for a wide range of uses such as data storage, drug delivery and energy-saving technology.

04-26-2006

Governor Mitt Romney announced that he has nominated four women to serve as judges in the Massachusetts trial court system, the largest number of female candidates ever brought forward at one time.

05-05-2006

Governor Mitt Romney signed ceremonial legislation to rename a bridge on Route 3A in Scituate and Marshfield in honor of Massachusetts National Guard Sergeant Michael Jason Kelley, who was killed on June 8, 2005 while serving in Afghanistan.

Mitt Romney: The Budget Balancer

Mitt Romney is the best candidate to help balance the budget.
Reasons to agree:

1. Mitt Romney is willing to veto excess spending.
2. Mitt Romney balancing the 2002 Olympic budget.
3. Mitt Romney balancing the Massachusetts budget without raising taxes.
4. There are many down to earth example of Mitt Romney's Frugality .
5. Mitt Romney turned around Bain.
6. No other candidate has had as much success with Romney and budget turnarounds. He knows how to work the systems and get people on board.

Reasons to disagree:

1. Help me brainstorm!

2003

01-10-2003, ROMNEY SEEKS EXPANDED AUTHORITY TO BALANCE BUDGET
01-28-2003, WITH BUDGET CRISIS LOOMING, ROMNEY MOVES TO CUT PRESS OPERATION
02-04-2003, ROMNEY NIXES STATE PRINTING CONTRACT FOR BUDGET
02- 04-2003, DISPELLING THE MYTHS, COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON THE BUDGET
01-17-2003, ROMNEY SIGNS BILL GIVING HIM BROADER BUDGETARY POWERS
02-24-2003, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES HHS REORGANIZATION AS PART OF BUDGET

2004

06-03-2004, ROMNEY DELIVERS FIRST DIVIDEND ON REFORM

2005

03-15-2005-, GOVERNOR ROMNEY ANNOUNCES BOND RATING UPGRADE FOR COMMONWEALTH'S DEBT

Some perspective on the Turnpike

March 15, 2005

This is what Mitt Romney said about the Turnpike.

 

--
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

http://ideastockexchange.com/
myclob.pbwiki.com/
http://www.blogger.com/profile/1811941
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myclob/

Managment

Management

I believe Mitt Romney would be the first former CEO of a major corporation to be president, if he was elected president.

Have you ever wondered what would happen to the United States if someone who graduated from Harvard in 5 years with a law degree, and an MBA, who graduated with honors, and then went on to be one of the most successful Turnaround Chief executive Officers in our country... if this person got elected president?

I wonder sometimes what would happen if Bill Gates or the Google guys got elected president? I wonder if they could set aside all of the political infighting and make things just run better, and smoother, and more efficiently. But I don't think Bill Gates is necessarily a managerial genius. I think he made good strategic movies, but I don't know if he is a managerial dynamo. I think the Google guys have some paradigm changing ideas, but I don't know if they are great managers either.

From reading Mitt Romney's book about the Olympics, and looking at his business record, I think he might be one of the country's best managers. I think he has basically accomplished everything he can in Massachusetts, and they hate him so much because he won't play their game. I feel like one of the great minds of our time is being wasted, and I want him to start fixing things.

If you read "Turnaround" you can't help but think that Romney is just amazing at fixing things. But that is what you hear about everyone at Bain capital. They are a bunch of data nerds that love graphs, and statistics, and finding the real problems and fixing them.

So I wish that someone would start the Chief Executive Officers for Mitt website.

Group Goals & "to-do" lists

1. Contact all the people who have had first hand experience of working with Mitt Romney. Ask them to join a Mitt Romney group, blog, or just share their experience and thoughts on Romney. We aught to be able to post their words if they want to write it, or make an MP3 of them speaking.
2. Branch out into multimedia. We should start Mitt Romney pod casts.
3. Start multi-lingual Mitt Romney groups. Mitt Romney speaks French, and could elicit support of French-Americans. He is also likely to get Spanish speaking support.
4. Encourage people who have multi-media of Mitt Romney to share it online. It would be great if his family posted pictures on Flickr.
5. Recruit family member of Mitt Romney to join these groups.
6. Create a fun kind of Mitt Romney test, were we find out who is the most committed Romney supporter. Questions could include:
7. Create a team like atmoshpere were we know about each other, are willing to ask each other to edit each other's posts, and give candid feedback.
8. Discuss with each other strengths and weaknesses of pro-Mitt Romney websites.
9. Have group tasks to be done each week. We need to be organized. A car with 10 stearing wheals will get no were.

Have you:
1. Bought a bumper sticker?
2. Tee-shirt.
3. Started a blog?
4. Joined a group?
5. Talked to a friend.
6. Read Turnaround?
7. Shared turnaround with your friends?
8. Annoyed your family?
9. Annoyed your friends.
10. Gone to a speech.
11. Edited the Wikipedia site?

Different amount of points could be assigned to each question. We could watch people's progress, and give $20 to the person with the most points at the end of a given time period.

Mitt Romney: Competent, compassionate conservative

Mitt Romney: Competent, compassionate conservative

http://myclob.pbwiki.com/

My two favorite things!

The Simpsons & Mitt Romney

I hope my mom is not reading this, but my wife and I own 7 or 8 seasons of the Simpson's. My Mom thinks the Simpson's are lewd, but then again she wouldn't let my brothers watch star-treck. Don't worry mom we don't let James watch them.

The Simpson's and Mitt Romney now have only one degree of separation. Harry Shearer, from the Simpson's (and Le Show on NPR), has recently made a quick post about Mitt Romney.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/maybe-mitt-romney-should-_b_25050.html

Right is Right, and although primaries are often about showing that you have all the right friends, and non of the wrong friends, and in the republican primaries having a friend like Harry might not help, I believe that I am nuanced enough to decide truth strictly on who is saying it.

Some people try and decide "he is a good person, and so I agree with everything they say" or "they are a bad person and I disagree with everything they say".

Well Harry is right. Mitt Romney handles things the right way. He can be nice, but he will hunt you down if he thinks you are harming his country or state. He doesn't mind making the right enemies.

Maybe I fall into the same trap. I don't know a lot about the big dig. I don't know that the guy Romney is going after is bad. I am impressed to see that Romney isn't trapped into being nicey-nice all the time though. I hope he is right. It sounds like if what Romney is saying is true, that this guy shouldn't be protecting secrets. It sounds like his interest are not aligned with the best interest of the state. I am quite removed, and so I'm not going to say what side I am on, but I just thought it was cool what Harry said about Romney, on the surface...

I did another spell check, and had another thought. I guess to tell the truth, I heard about the desaster, hoped it wouldn't look bad for Romney, and got excited about this post when Harry said it looked good for Romney. So I guess I am just rooting for the home team. Oh well.

To-do Idea

I thought I would contact all the people in Mitt Romney's book (from the index under "A") and see if they would like to join a Mitt Romney blog, group, or give a quote (I always wanted to be a reporter).

If I took the 7 people in the "A" group, would someone else take the "B" group, and so on? Reply to this message, and just say what letter you will take.

Mike
--
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

http://ideastockexchange.com/
http://myclob.pbwiki.com/
http://www.blogger.com/profile/1811941
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myclob/

You don't want to make Mitt Romney mad

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Department State House Boston, MA 02133 (617) 725-4000 MITT ROMNEY GOVERNOR KERRY HEALEY LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 13, 2006 CONTACT: Eric Fehrnstrom (617) 725-4025 ROMNEY FILES BILL TO REASSURE PUBLIC ON TUNNEL SAFETY Takes inspection oversight away from Turnpike Authority Governor Mitt Romney today announced he is filing legislation to give the Executive Branch the authority to oversee the inspection of the failed ceiling system in the I-90 Connector tunnel and for making the final determination for re-opening the closed tunnel to traffic. The legislation also directs the Executive Branch to carry out a complete "stem to stern" safety audit of the entire Central Artery/Tunnel project, and seeks an appropriation for that purpose of up to $20 million. In order to carry out a thorough inspection, the legislation also grants the Executive Branch full and complete access to all Turnpike records and documents. The bill contains an emergency preamble so that it will take effect immediately upon passage. Romney said he was taking this action because of the public's loss of confidence in the management of the Turnpike Authority, and he stressed the importance of getting oversight of tunnel safety that is independent of the Turnpike Authority. "Basically, it comes down to an issue of public confidence. The current leadership of the Turnpike Authority has lost all credibility with the public. Until we can bring in new leadership, I'm asking the Legislature to act on an emergency basis to transfer to the state the authority for overseeing the inspections now underway, and for making the final call on the safety of the tunnel system," said Romney. Romney also announced that one of the nation's top law firms, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, has agreed to assist on a pro bono basis in presenting the facts that serve as the basis for the Governor's decision to remove Matt Amorello as chairman and chief executive officer of the Turnpike. A hearing on that matter will be scheduled in the near future. ##

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Department State House Boston, MA 02133 (617) 725-4000 MITT ROMNEY GOVERNOR KERRY HEALEY LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 11, 2006 CONTACT: Eric Fehrnstrom (617) 725-4025 ROMNEY ACTS TO REMOVE AMORELLO, CITING PUBLIC SAFETY Action comes in the wake of fatal collapse of tunnel ceiling Governor Romney today announced his intention to fire Matthew Amorello as chairman and chief executive officer at the Turnpike Authority, citing public safety concerns and ongoing mismanagement. Amorello is entitled to a hearing prior to the action becoming effective. Romney's announcement came after a three-ton section of the ceiling collapsed in the I-90 Connector, killing a woman passenger in a car traveling eastbound in the tunnel. According to Romney, Amorello has engaged in a continuing course of mismanagement, including dismissing the concerns of highly-regarded outside engineering experts who raised questions about the safety of the tunnel system a year ago. "Through his failures, Matt Amorello has undermined public confidence in the safety of the Big Dig tunnels, diminishing the project's benefit to the public," said Romney. "I am following the course set out in the law to bring in new leadership that can restore the public's confidence. At a late-morning meeting, Romney assembled senior members of his Administration, including Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the Secretary of Administration and Finance, Secretary of Public Safety, Secretary of Transportation and the General Manager of the MBTA, to coordinate a state response to the tunnel emergency. Amorello was asked to come to the meeting to provide a briefing, but he did not attend. The law permits the Governor to "de-designate" the Turnpike Authority chairman for cause. De-designation would take Amorello out of an executive role, but allow him to remain as a regular member of the board. Before this can take place, Amorello is entitled to a statement of the facts constituting the cause for de-designation, and a hearing at which he can contest those facts. The Governor has instructed his legal counsel, Mark Nielsen, to prepare the statement and schedule the hearing.   ###

Anyone else know of someone that Romney came down hard on?

Bill Clinton & Romney: The religion issue

Bill Clinton said the following in his book, My Life:

 
I badly wanted Kennedy to win… after he spoke to the southern Baptist in Houston defending his faith and the right of Catholics Americans to run for president. Most of my classmates and their parents disagreed. I was getting used to it.

 
Nixon carried our county but squeaked by in our Arkansas with 52.2 percent of the vote, despite the best efforts of protestant fundamentalist to convince Baptist democrats that he would be taking orders from the pope.

 
Of course, the fact that he was a catholic was one of the reasons I wanted Kennedy to be president. From my own experiences at St. John's school, and my encounters with the nuns who worked with Mother St. Joseph's hospital, I liked and admired Catholics. Their values, devotion and social conscience.

I wonder if Clinton would say the same about Romney? Romney has said that Clinton was an embarrassment to our country, and so I doubt Clinton will ever say that Romney should get a fair chance on his substance. Just another instance of Hypocrisy on the left. Unless I'm proved wrong…

 

 

Weird Mitt Romney to-do list

When driving or taking a shower sometimes I have weird ideas. I was recently thinking about the e-mail asking about Mitt's foreign policy. To get a through answer you would want to find his quotes on foreign policy, and index all of his press realises. Maybe we should start indexing his Massachusetts press releases with foreign policy. What are all of the quotes, and actions that he took that affected Massachusetts's relationship with overseas companies, and countries... Maybe the press releases are a bad place to start for foreign policy, but I still think we should index them...

I also think we should contact all the people that he mentions his book: Turnaround, and ask them to post their firsthand experience of working with Mitt Romney, and what they think about him. We could ask them to join our Yahoo Discussion groups!

I also think we should have a contest to see who runs the best Mitt Romney state website. Maybe you would get points for having pictures with you and Mitt (or having met with Mitt), points for having local participation, local links calender links, being mentioned in local or other media, and the best way to measure a websites success is the page's google rank. It is on a scale from 1 to 10, and if you download the google toolbar, and turn on the "PageRank" thing you can see a bar that is part to all green. If you hover the mouse over it it will tell you the number...

For instance this site: http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/index.php

Gets a: 4/10

and my site: http://illinisans-4-mitt-romney.blogspot.com/

gets a: 0/10

Oh well!

ROMNEY VETOES NEEDLES BILL

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Department State House Boston, MA 02133 (617) 725-4000 MITT ROMNEY GOVERNOR KERRY HEALEY LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 30, 2006 CONTACT: Eric Fehrnstrom Felix Browne (617) 725-4025 ROMNEY VETOES NEEDLES BILL Says legislation will worsen heroin crisis by loosening drug paraphernalia laws Governor Mitt Romney today rejected a bill that would change the state's drug paraphernalia laws to allow for the unrestricted sale of hypodermic needles.  Currently, pharmacies may only sell needles to customers with a valid medical prescription, and possession of a needle is illegal without a prescription. "I believe this legislation is well-intentioned but misguided. It exacerbates the public health crisis over heroin abuse, and it sends the wrong message by appearing to condone drug use," said Romney. Department of Public Health statistics indicate the transmission rate of HIV/AIDS through intravenous drug use has declined from 32.8 percent of new cases in 1997 to only 15.7 percent of new cases in 2004, the most recent year for which there are statistics.  Over the same period, fatal overdoses and heroin-related hospitalizations have seen a dramatic rise.  In 1997, there were 9,612 heroin-related hospitalizations and by 2004 that number had nearly doubled to 17,704.  Over roughly the same time period, fatal heroin overdoses jumped from 178 to 574. "We should not make it easier for heroin and other drug addicts to continue using drugs," said Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey. "We could see high school kids buying hypodermic needles.  The Commonwealth needs to crack down on drug abuse not condone it." "Helping addicts to obtain needles will only add to a drug problem that already exists, and it will make my job that much more difficult to do," said Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott, who joined the Governor and Lieutenant Governor at a State House press conference.  "This bill will also lead to more needles being discarded in the street, creating a public safety hazard for all members of our community." Earlier this month, the Holyoke City Council voted for a resolution opposing the needles bill. In a letter submitted to the Legislature earlier this month, Secretary of Public Safety Robert C. Haas and former State Police Colonel Tom Robbins offered the following assessment of the bill:  "This initiative will dramatically increase the amount of dirty needles present in our communities, presenting a threat to children who may come into contact with them.  In addition, the proliferation of hypodermic needles will compromise officer safety.  The men and women charged with our protection and safety will be at greater risk when dealing with potential suspects who may be more likely to be carrying used needles on their person." ###

ROMNEY SIGNS LEGISLATION TO PROMOTE HUNTER SAFETY

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Department State House Boston, MA 02133 (617) 725-4000 MITT ROMNEY GOVERNOR KERRY HEALEY LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2006 CONTACT: Eric Fehrnstrom Felix Browne (617) 725-4025 ROMNEY SIGNS LEGISLATION TO PROMOTE HUNTER SAFETY Governor Mitt Romney today signed legislation requiring all new hunters to take a hunter education course.  The measure has the strong support of sportsmen and gun owners. "It's important that hunters understand the basic skills and responsibilities that will help them to enjoy the sport safely, and to foster an appreciation of hunting for new generations of young people," said Governor Mitt Romney. Until now, individuals with gun licenses – whether a License to Carry or a Firearm Identification card - have automatically been qualified to receive hunting licenses.  The new law provides an exemption for individuals who held hunting licenses prior to January 1, 2007.  With the bill's signing, Massachusetts comes into line with the other 49 states that require hunters to take hunter safety courses. "The Sportsmen in our state have a strong legacy of outdoor safety and etiquette in our communities," said Senator Robert A. Antonioni (D-Leominster), chief sponsor of the legislation.  "This bill ensures that this legacy will continue for the many aspiring sportsmen in our state.  It puts the Commonwealth on par with the rest of the country." The legislation was originally proposed by the Worcester County League of Sportsmen, and it was supported by the Gun Owner's Action League (GOAL). "This legislation recognizes the skill and safety of those previously licensed hunters and goes forward to allow new hunters to gain valuable knowledge in safe hunting procedures and practices," said Representative George N. Peterson Jr. (R-Grafton). "We are pleased with the passage of yet another correction of Chapter 180 of the Acts of 1998, which created a confusing standard for acquiring a hunting, sporting or fishing license," said James Wallace, GOAL's executive director. "Prior to the passage of this law some eight years ago, hunter education was mandatory for all first time hunters.  While GOAL does not normally support mandatory training, it is our belief that every first time hunter should be exposed to the ethics, safety aspects and laws in Massachusetts regarding hunting before taking to the field for the first time."   ###

Turnaround quotes

For the 4th of July I've been home to Idaho from Illinois, and went to McCall. When I wasn't watching fire works, I've been reading "Turnaround" by Mitt Romney.

This is part of what Mitt says about his run against Ted Kennedy:

"Kennedy launched a particularly effective attack campaign. His ads renforced people's misperceptions about me as a money-grubbing businessman. He injected my Mormonism into the campaign in a highly visible way. Our polls showed that my faith was a significant negative in largely Catholic Massachusetts. Ideas I brought forward were dissected and distorted to their illogical extreme. When it was all said and done, he beat me soundly... Kennedy ran a great campaign. I had a lot to learn. I didn't harbor any ill will. Yet, I didn't feel that we had made the kind of contribution we had envisioned. The campaign had been about charges and mispreceptions, not ideas and ideals. I wondered if anything lasting for the community, even for political dialog, had really come of it."

If Mitt is serious about changing the poltical dialog, I believe he could do it. He invested in new ideas, for Bain Capital. I would like to help him build a website were he can organize his beliefs, and the reasons that he sees to agree with his beliefs. People could come to his website and submit responces to his beliefs to one of two columns for each of his beliefs:

1. Reasons to agree
2. Reasons to disagree

That way each of Mitt's beliefs would have a list of reasons to agree or disagree with them.

This could "change the political dialog" by getting people to think about why the believe things, not just what they believe.

Currently, online, discusion boards are usless, because the topic changes constantly, and no progress is made. I propose that Mitt makes a website with a page for each of his beliefs.

I explain my idea here:

http://ideastockexchange.com/
http://goodideapromotingalgorithm.blogspot.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/Good-Idea-Promoting-Algorithm

Maybe we can use this format to start organizing his beliefs now!