Clintonspeak:

So I attended the Clean Energy Summit put on by Harry Reid and UNLV this week. The keynote speaker on Monday night was former President Bill Clinton. I had never heard Clinton speak before (other than on TV when prez and such) and I was definitely not impressed.

Forget the message for a minute but the former President was a mess as a speaker. I have been a Toastmaster for almost 10 years now and speak 3-4 times a week at various groups so I have a little speaking experience. Clinton's speech was a bumbling mess. He tried to speak from some notes he "wrote in the plane on the way here" and it came across like it was a terrible flight. He repeatedly lost his place and referred to point 7 as point 2 and point 8 as his second point and repeated himself or joked until he found his place again. It was to the point that I was uncomfortable for him. I expected a lot more from a guy who gets millions each year just to speak to them.

As to the content of his speech. He showed a depth of knowledge on Alternative Energy that I appreciated. A couple of things like "de-coupling" energy companies that I had not heard of before and his closing on making Nevada a kind of pilot program for total energy independence made me applaud. Clinton did well when he told stories and he could have told a lot more of them. He made great points but I wish his presentation was a lot more professional. With the VAST majority of those attending having Clinton as their hero he got a standing ovation when he was done and the conference went on.

I have said this before and I say it again. Words are great but time slips by as we talk. The time has come to DO something. I would have loved Clinton to put some of his or his foundation's (which he touted over and over again) money into Nevada to make this the pilot program move. We have been SAYING these kind of things since before he was president and still we talk. If he'd have come with a check my ears would have perked up and people from both sides would have cheered.

What the F***?!?!

Okay I am getting a little tired of Nevada bloggers. I search the blog sphere for insight into the temperature of Nevada thought and action. But most of what I seem to find are rants against everything Jim Gibbons and everything George Bush. I have not read calm, concise, and concrete blogs that will state a point of view without relying on name calling and using bad language. It is as if because they DARE to use bad language on a blog they should be legitimate.

There is a true story out of the formerly (maybe soon again) Communist Russia where a group of children who were exposed to ranting and raving about how bad democracy was and how screwed up Christianity was and that anyone would be "out of their mind" to believe in those corrupt Capitalist systems. They were ranted about through grade school, middle school, and high school, but when they got to college they started thinking, "With all this ranting and raving we have been hearing all these years our government must be afraid of something?" So they checked it out, REALLY checked it out away from all the propaganda and became the leaders in the NEW Russian revolution to rid itself of Communism.

Why do I tell you this story? Because the more ranting and raving I see on the Nevada blogs the more fear I see of the OPPOSITE view. A calm, realistic exchange of ideas shows you have confidence in your opinion where a rant shows you are scared of the opposite opinion and need to rely on volume and not on truth.

Think about it. Calm, disciplined and healthy debate over substantial issues is PRO Nevada!