I Was Wrong - And I Admit It!

Ordinarily, I research first, gather facts, then form (and if asked - state) my opinion.

Yesterday I stated an opinion without doing all the research I maybe could -- and should -- have done... namely regarding politician blogs. Call it a "knee-jerk reaction" to a CNET news item.

After posting, having second thoughts on the issue, I began searching through some politician blogs, and thanks to one comment received from Mr. Kemp of kemplog, I was delighted to find Indiana's 8th District State Rep., Mr. Ryan Dvorak's blog.

Although I don't entirely agree with ALL of Mr. Dvorak's opinions, there are several opinions he expressed that I strongly agree with as well... In fact, having read through some of his blog, I feel sad that he is not a rep for our area.

From reading Mr. Dvorak's blog, his convictions on certain pressing issues for Indiana shine through in his posts, and his openness to comments is refreshing in a political scene that up to this point had appeared to me to be shunning the wants, needs, desires, hopes and dreams of its voting population.

Now back to Jasper County, Indiana -- if you know of any politician blogs from this County, I would surely love to hear about them. Searching for them through search engines has produced a TON of non-relevent results for me. Maybe there are no politicians from our area blogging yet?

You see, I'm trying to verify something else that was spoken to me...

One business lawyer stated it to me (I think it was meant to be "off the record" ...so I won't mention his name here) -- "there are a lot of deals that happen in Jasper County behind the doors in smoke-filled rooms."

During our conversation he also mentioned the same goes for Lake County, but I definitely don't know anything about that situation. It's hard enough to fully grasp what's going on here in Jasper County.

The implications of his statement, being as he is from a fairly large legal firm that represents businesses here in Northern Indiana ...indeed, a firm that has publicly admitted to representing Belstra in the past... makes me think he, of all people, should know what he's talking about.

Perhaps his comments spoken personally to me have tainted my judgement regarding politicians in Jasper County.

In any case, on the subject of politician blogs I was wrong. Not entirely, since some blogs are almost worthless, but several are definitely worth reading -- and interacting with. It just might be a very POSITIVE step for politicians to enter the blogosphere.

I was wrong. I admit it. At least I have the courage to admit when I think I'm wrong.

Now if only IDEM can admit they were wrong to issue the sow-unit permit to Belstra, opening the doors for destruction of critical wildlife habitat here in Jasper County...


p.s. And if you happen to know where these "smoke-filled rooms" are, I'd like to know more about them, too.