Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Arianna Huffington in Des Moines

(Photo Courtesy: Associated Press)

Happy Tuesday! My day feels a bit odd. I was especially curious about the turnout and what people would say at the public hearing before the Iowa Racing and Commission in Johnston today. Several busloads of people came in to support Fort Dodge's effort to get a casino. I wasn't there in person. In tv, we are in the middle of May ratings or "sweeps" as we call them. That means we air special reports. I'm working on a bunch of them right now, as well as co-hosting two candidate debates with the Des Moines Register. John Bachman and I are also hosting the three Republican candidates for governor for a special "Insiders" show. Yeah, it's a busy time! So, unfortunately, today that meant I couldn't cover the casino crowd.

I don't want to give away all of my story for next Monday night at 10. But today's interview was fascinating. I haven't been this intrigued by an interview for a while. Here's the premise of the story: we're all seeing (and many people can't stand) politicians going after each other and everything. It seems like it's worse than ever. And they can't or won't find solutions that are truly best for the country. Some people yearn for compromise and actual problem-solving. But others don't want the parties working together on anything and if they do, they commit to kicking that compromiser out of office.
Today, I talked with a CEO of a metro company that teaches people how to think. Yeah, I know, some people may think this is a bunch of bull puckey. But they get governments, non-profits, businesses, chambers of commerce, etc. to get together and re-invent the way they think their approach to problem-solving. Our conversation was tremendously interesting. My only complaint is that she had so much good stuff, it will never all fit into our story! But that's a good problem to have. Actually, it's a great problem to have. More on the story later...

This afternoon, I'm headed over to interview Arianna Huffington. I've never talked with her before and will be curious what she has to say. She is headlining the Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's annual fundraiser tonight.

ETC...

For the Love of the Game... My Cardinals continued their roll last night in Philadelphia. Their rookie lefty Jaime Garcia continues to make them look like a genius for letting him make the opening day roster. But did you see the craziness that happened? Some idiot ran out of the stands and onto the field. For his stupidity, he got some claps, some boos and some tasering. A police officer tasered him right there on the field! I say, good call. If that guy is dumb enough to break the law and run onto the field, he deserves what he good. Let's not forget the mentally-disturbed guy who ran out and stabbed tennis star Monica Seles and that idiot who tacked the first base coach of the Kansas City Royals. People know they can't get on the field and when they do, they ought to get punished. I've never been tasered, but it sounds to me like the punishment fits the crime. Some people disagree though. They think it's going too far in this case, since kids were in the stands and had to see this happen (it didn't particularly graphic to me). What do you think? Here's the video:


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Love that the guy got tasered. Might give others pause before the same insipid behavior disrupts another sporting event.

As to the "did he deserve the taser" issue, my call is yes because it was not the first option. Had the kid run out, slid into second, and then peacefully given up to the authorities only to be tasered... different story, but he was in continuous evasion with no sign of giving up without a fight. He got what he deserved.

Kinda hope he soiled himself and had to sit in the holding cell and jail in his own filth too. But that's just me being mean.

MV

Scott Dettbarn said...

It was nice to here this kid's mother take responsibility and apologize, rather than run to a lawyer and vilify those charged to defuse such an event. It has become far too common to see the latter. At least this kid will have the chance to take something positive from the debacle.

Also, it's comforting to see that security personnel, at this type of event, have the latitude to use this to subdue a marauder. I'm not sure it is enough to detour future acts of idiocy, though.

Perhaps it would be a beneficial feature story for a reporter, like Dave, to experience and document the unpleasentries of the taser, as a public service. I would have my family tune in; you know, for the educational experience.

Dave Price said...

Don't tase me, bro. No thanks!