Find Your Elected Folks, Part 4!

Here we're gonna go after the county people. They're a little harder to come by...I had to resort to a Google search for "Hamilton County Ohio" before I found the webpage.



From there, it took a bit of digging. I ended up going to the top right corner and clicking "Departments." That gave me a list of all the departments in Hamilton County. Since I'm concerned with finding out who my county commissioners are, I clicked the "Commissioners" link.



From there, you get the contact info and links to their home pages.



Back track to the Hamilton County page again, and you'll see a box on the right hand side that asks you to input your address called the Local Government Connection, to find your local municipal government. That's pretty cool, let's try it.



Oh yes, it's pretty cool. It would figure something like this would happen on the last day of the "Find the Elected Officials" week. Go take a look and see what I'm talking about!

Now For Some News...

Clinton Improves Debate Performance, from NPR
Barry Bonds Indicted for Perjury, from NPR
Dinosaur "Cow" Found in Sahara, from NPR
Hundreds Dead in Cyclone, from BBC
Victim Given 200 Lashes in Saudi Rape Case, from BBC
Russian Election Will Not be Overseen by International Watchdog, from BBC
Joe Nuxhall Dies at Age 79, from WVXU
Hill Climb Race to Determine Cincinnati Masochist, from WVXU
Contractors to Register in Cincinnati (as if taxes and red tape weren't enough there), from WVXU

Find Your Elected Folks, Part 3!

So...thus far, we've found the President, my Congresswoman, my Senators, and the Governor of Ohio. What's next, you ask? Isn't that all?



Excuse me while I laugh. Because we're just getting started.



After this week tho, I plan on shaking it up a bit, don't worry. But for this fine Thursday morning, more elected reps!



Let's look at my State Senator. Or Senators? How does that work, exactly? I dunno...but I know where to start.

1. Go to the Ohio homepage.


2. On the right hand side of the page, you should see a blue box with the Governor's photo on it. Above him, there are some tabs...one of them says "Legislative." Click it.


3. We've got some options. We've got 5 links, one each for the Senate, the House, and the General Assembly, plus one each for Find Your Senator and Find Your Representative. (I'm glad we did this, 'cause I had no idea these legislative webpages were here).


4. I'm going to search for my Senator. Punch in my Zip Code, and I get the scoop on Robert Schuler (this is a neat service!)


5. Just for kicks, let's do my Representative too. Again w/ my Zip, I meet Michelle Schneider.

Go try it...it's fun!

Now for Some News...

• House Approves Spending Bill Tied to Troop Withdrawal (Too bad the Senate will never go for it), from NPR
• Mitt Romney Has Trouble Ahead Because of Mormon Faith, from NPR
• Airport Security Not Very Secure, from NPR
• Bishops Issue Voting Guidelines, from NPR
• Good News, Bad News About Iran, from BBC
• Musharraf Names Interim Prime Minister, from BBC

How to Contact the Governor

Just a quickie today...but I thought we should touch on what might be an obvious character, the state Governor.



http://www.governor.ohio.gov/ is the webpage for Ted Strickland. Once you're there, you can check out all kinds of nifty stuff, not unlike the White House website. In order to contact Governor Strickland, click on the "Constituent Affairs" link towards the bottom of the page. This will get you a web contact form, which even lets you flag your message as needing a reply.



If you're looking for a phone number or mailing address, go to the sidebar on the left-hand side. Find the link that says Contact Us. There you are!



Now for Some News...

I think Wednesday's I'll try and focus on environment/sustainability news. Which makes most of Marketplace's show yesterday (this whole week, really) pretty applicable.

Effects of a Consumer Culture on Bhutan
A small Indiana Town Shoots for Energy Independance
Discussion: Public Solutions or Private Enterprise?

All three of the above from Marketplace, an American Public Media operation.

Headlines...

FBI Finds Blackwater Shootings Unjustified, from NPR
Congress to Vote on Another Iraq Spending Bill with Troop Drawdown Attached, from NPR

French Strike Brings Travel Chaos, from BBC
Another Pakistani Opposition Leader Arrested, from BBC

Reds Lose Chief Operating Officer and Executive VP, from WVXU
Ohio Prison Population Hits 50,000, from WCPO. (I heard on the radio version on WVXU they blame the short term, 1 year or less drug convictions for most of the over crowding. Also, the prisons are projected to be at 52000 by this time next year).

Tune in next time, when we'll take a look at the Ohio State Legislature!

Get to Know Your Elected Folks 2

So now we've found US Senators...US Representatives...and now comes time for the other elected branch of the Federal Government, the President.



*Editorial Note* While the evidence IS to the countrary, remember the President does work for YOU. This means it's just as acceptable to drop the Executive a line telling them how you think the country should be run. Whether or not the President understands what it means to serve the constituency is a topic for someone else to debate. *End Note*

1. Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/


2. Scroll all the way to the bottom. You'll see a set of links such as "President," "Vice President," etc. Among them is a link "Contact." Click that.


3. You'll get the mailing address, comment e-mails, phone numbers, and some other stuff like the Vice President's e-mail.

My goal is to limit how much my personal politics color this blog...but it's safe to say we won't be revisiting the White House webpage while this Administration is in office. Why, might you ask? I don't trust them. Plain and simple. Feel free to poke around on your own, but my time is more valuable than all of that.

Now Some News...

Inquiry Into San Fransisco Oil Spill, from NPR

Lawmakers and the Nation Try to Cope with High Oil Costs, from NPR

Bhutto Under House Arrest, Now Calls on Musharraf to Quit, from BBC

Bird Flu in England, from BBC

Tractor Trailer Closes 71s to 471 Ramp, from WCPO.

Get to Know Your Elected Folks!

Or mine, anyway.


And a side note for anyone who may have been looking for post action this weekend...I don't do that. I've spent just about all my working life to date working weekends, and...I don't anymore. Sorry.

So this week, we're gonna track down and add to the sidebar my elected officials. Because...I'm curious, for one. And it'll make it easier to find and decide on news. Since we've already found the United States Senators from Ohio, now we'll find my Congressman.

1. Go to http://www.house.gov/. That's the House of Representatives home page. It's got cool stuf, which we'll check out later.


2. This one is so easy. Look at the upper left hand corner...there's a place that advises you to find your rep by punching in your zip code.


3. In my case, this brings me to a page where Jean Schmidt (did not get my vote in '06) is shown, as well as the Ohio 2nd District. Jean's name is linked...let's click it!


4. Now we see her official webpage, with all kindsa neat goodies on it. Including possibly the most important, her contact info. This is important because we'll be discussing how to inform your elected reps when their views are either (a) appropriately reflecting your own or (b) decidedly offensive.

So to my neat lil side bar of knowledge, I'll add a neat lil section for Jean Schmidt.

Tune in tomorrow, when we tackle possibly the most obvious of all, the White House!

Now Some News...

• Bhutto Vows to Defy Protest Ban, from NPR.
• Iraq Vet Can't Find Work, from NPR.
• Hamas Kills 5 at Arafat Rally, from BBC.
• Cincinnati Library Celebrates Childrens Book Week, from WVXU.