Today’s stream of stuff, plus a few from over the weekend… the most popular of which was quite the discussion about the Second Amendment.

I’m at the computer far later than I’ve been trying to be lately. Mostly because I was at a Silver Spring Citizens’ Advisory Board meeting earlier in the evening. That always throws my schedule off. (Though not at much as those good ol’ town board meetings I covered when I worked for the paper up in rural NY… some of those ran until near midnight.)

There’s a lot that goes on in the Silver Spring area. There’s a lot more that’s going to be going on in the next decade or so. There seems to be a bit of misunderstanding–and distrust–of the process. I’ve seen that before (re: the aforementioned board meetings way back when). That’s a common problem when it comes to the public and government. I don’t have a good solution to offer, but it’s would have to involve the government finding time and money to more actively engage the public than it does while cleaning up any actual incorrect information. Of course, that requires people not being so paranoid about the government lying to them… which, of course, is a sadly earned reputation the government has acquired over the years.

So, here’s the thing: If you’re even close to being a concerned citizen when it comes to any topic, make an effort to look not just into the situation that has you concerned, but also get familiar with the process it goes through and check out other projects that have gone through that same process. Then, at least, you’ll know if you should be paranoid or not. You’ll also be able to (nicely?) let your officials know if they’re screwing something else or saying things that could confuse others.

Or, y’know, everyone can just continue to shout at one another… whatever… 😉