Monday Here and There

Just a few random thoughts on a rainy summer Monday.

If you were consumed by the Iowa Straw Poll over the weekend, you heard the name Ames, Iowa on an hourly basis. Yes, that's our Ames family. It was named for railroad mogul and congressman, Oakes Ames. Historian Richard White in his new history of the transcontinentals, Railroaded!, calls Oakes "obtuse" something his daddy, the original Oliver Ames, might have agreed with since he hired a special tutor for Oakes who came with a big birch rod. White's book looks at the Union Pacific after the Ames brothers time, but spends most of its time focused on the Central, Southern, and Northern Pacific.

While trying to find out what the late great Tim Pawlenty believed before his political demise this weekend, I stumbled upon OntheIssues.org. This is a non-partisan non-profit aimed at providing statements from the presidential candidates on many of the big issues. The link isn't a subtle ploy to get you to vote for Jon Huntsman; the site is a complex one that is difficult to navigate because it purports to give policy statements from all national pols. This link takes you to the page where you can find all the candidates for President.

Regarding the Iowa Straw Poll results, it just shows you how the media can distort things. Only a little over 16,000 people participated, and yes, the two frontrunners were nutballs Bachman and Paul. Still in a political stunt that rewards pols with rabid followers, half the people in Iowa voted for candidates that might have the ability to govern if they were elected.

I'll be doing a blog rating some of the nonpartisan political information sites shortly.

Here's a fun story about a man who loves his pizza. Seems a Stoughton native moved to Mississippi and missed Town Spa pizza so much that every other year he drives up and takes home 150 pizzas. Reminds me of Holbrook's Andy Card who was Chief of Staff for President Bush. He told the President that Linwood Pizza in Randolph was the best in the country and actually brought down the owner to make pizza at the White House. Now unlike Town Spa pizza which I find uninspired, Linwood does make an excellent pizza, but it wasn't the same in D. C.. The owner of Linwood asked for a second chance, went home and reviewed all the steps and decided to take a gallon of Randolph's awful tasting water back to D.C. with the other ingredients. Violá, Linwood on the Potomac! Linwood makes a traditional pizza while Zack's also in Randolph used to make a more Greek style (more oily) pie. Don't know if Zack's is still there. Both were excellent. In Stoughton I'd rank Denneno's pizza as far better than the Town Spa variety. What's the best in Easton? All are pretty good, but none of the pizzerias really rank with Linwood, Denneno's, or Zack's. While I like Maguire's limited restaurant pizzas, I think Doyle's may have the best individual sized pizzas in town-great taste and lot's of variety. What do you think, dear reader?