The names of the 2007 CMT Country Music Awards Nominees were released earlier today. My favorites and picks are:
VIDEO OF THE YEAR -
"What Hurts the Most" - Rascal Flatts
"Want to" - Sugarland
"The Seashores of Old Mexico" - George Strait
MALE VIDEO -
"A Little Too Late" - Toby Keith
FEMALE VIDEO -
"Before He Cheats" - Carrie Underwood
DUO VIDEO -
"8th of November" - Big and Rich
GROUP VIDEO -
"Not Ready to Make Nice" - Dixie Chicks
BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO -
"Leave the Pieces" - The Wreckers
WIDE OPEN COUNTRY VIDEO -
"Always on Your Side" - Sheryl Crow with Sting
VIDEO DIRECTOR -
Wes Edwards, for "Amarillo Sky" by Jason Aldean
The announcement and presentation of the winners will be broadcast on Monday, 16 April, at 6pm MDT on CMT on both DirecTV and Dish Network Satellite Services, and if you are extremely lucky, on your local cable service since virtually none carry CMT unless you are getting gauged and paying $90 a month for that "digital" (ha!) package.
A full list of all the nominees can be seen at this link:
http://www.cmt.com/shows/events/cmt_music_awards/2007/nominees/
Thursday, March 1, 2007
2007 WY Legislature: Some Good but Much Left Undone
The 2007 Wyoming State Legislative session has just wrapped up with some accomplishments but also with a number of significant missed opportunities to address and work towards solving issues vital to citizens of this state.
Among the significant accomplishments include a permanent end to the sales tax on grocery food; greater restrictions on having open containers of liquor in motor vehicles; further control and accountability of sex offenders in the state; funding for a new health sciences building at LCCC in Cheyenne; greater academic requirements for the Hathaway Scholarship Program; sole authorization for the governor to negotiate with Federal Wildlife officials for management of wolves; funding for greater oversight and assistance with daycare centers and day care; and some greater additional funding for transportation and highways as well as for the University of Wyoming.
But the Legislature came up short in several key areas. Among these include an open container law that still has holes in it; no statewide lottery bill; inadequate public safety measures concerning the manufacturing and use of methamphetamine; funding for community colleges;
a statewide public smoking ban; additional monies for the University of Wyoming, particularly concerning parking and maintenance; and far too little funding and authorization of new revenue sources for transportation, particularly highway maintenance, new highway expansion, and new highway construction with a new dedicated gasoline percentage tax on diesel vehicles with a tax rebate or discount program for Wyoming citizens and their diesel vehicles.
The challenges of funding for the needed maintenance, upgrades, and expansion of Wyoming roads and highways is one of the greatest challenges facing the state along with education; greater health care that is less expensive; a rapidly growing aging population; urban sprawl; water resource development and protection; environmental degradation; and crime due to poverty and substance abuse.
This legislative session did a fair job in helping draft laws to improve the lives of this state's citizens and maintain a quality of life that is the envy of many other states in the nation, but in the final analysis, the legislators did not do enough and fell short. I give the legislature and its members a grade of a "D+" or a "C-" for the results they produced.
Among the significant accomplishments include a permanent end to the sales tax on grocery food; greater restrictions on having open containers of liquor in motor vehicles; further control and accountability of sex offenders in the state; funding for a new health sciences building at LCCC in Cheyenne; greater academic requirements for the Hathaway Scholarship Program; sole authorization for the governor to negotiate with Federal Wildlife officials for management of wolves; funding for greater oversight and assistance with daycare centers and day care; and some greater additional funding for transportation and highways as well as for the University of Wyoming.
But the Legislature came up short in several key areas. Among these include an open container law that still has holes in it; no statewide lottery bill; inadequate public safety measures concerning the manufacturing and use of methamphetamine; funding for community colleges;
a statewide public smoking ban; additional monies for the University of Wyoming, particularly concerning parking and maintenance; and far too little funding and authorization of new revenue sources for transportation, particularly highway maintenance, new highway expansion, and new highway construction with a new dedicated gasoline percentage tax on diesel vehicles with a tax rebate or discount program for Wyoming citizens and their diesel vehicles.
The challenges of funding for the needed maintenance, upgrades, and expansion of Wyoming roads and highways is one of the greatest challenges facing the state along with education; greater health care that is less expensive; a rapidly growing aging population; urban sprawl; water resource development and protection; environmental degradation; and crime due to poverty and substance abuse.
This legislative session did a fair job in helping draft laws to improve the lives of this state's citizens and maintain a quality of life that is the envy of many other states in the nation, but in the final analysis, the legislators did not do enough and fell short. I give the legislature and its members a grade of a "D+" or a "C-" for the results they produced.
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