Dylan Glenn, the subject of my feature length documentary DYLAN'S RUN, came in second in the Republican primary in the 8th district of Georgia (46% to 37% with 96% of precincts reporting). That means a runoff, scheduled for August 10th, between Dylan and Lynn Westmoreland, who came in first.  The winner is practically guaranteed to be the next congressman from the district, which is heavily Republican (almost 70% voted for Bush in 2000).

We're considering filming the runoff and updating the current version of DYLAN'S RUN, which covers his 1998 and 2000 campaigns in a different district in Georgia. What do you think his chances of winning the runoff are?    

Email info@veriscope.com

A confluence of ugly technological events took the site and my email accounts offline this week. If you tried to reach me by email from 6/14 to 6/18, please resend.

Dylan Glenn, the main character in our feature length doc "Dylan's Run" is running for Congress again in Georgia. He's in a tight primary race scheduled for July 20th. Stay tuned. We may shoot more footage and include it in a new version of the film.

"Battle for the Klamath" is nearing the end of production. It's a great story with compelling characters trying to resolve a seemingly intractable dispute over water and salmon. We need additional funding to complete it. Contact us at info@veriscope.com with any funding ideas you might have.

This is an interesting thing to watch. A strong first step toward the mythical "Hydrogen Revolution" or another cynical political event that fades into underfunded obscurity? For the latter, see last year's State of the Union.

I've been trying to raise money for a doc on renewable energy alternatives for over a year, and if that experience is any guide, people are interested in the subject, but not dying to see an in-depth examination of the various alternatives.

If you're interested in stories about the renewable energy world, check out Clean Edge.

The Interior Department inspector general found no evidence that Karl Rove or other White House operatives interfered in the Klamath Basin water conflict for political gain last year.

Rove's comments on the ongoing Klamath water battle came in a meeting, and without a tape recording of the comments or some other solid written evidence, it is extremely difficult to prove "political pressure." Indeed, the nut paragraph in the letter the IG sent to Senator John Kerry (who called for the investigation last year before he became the Democratic nominee) seems to be:

"However, we conclude that the (Interior) Department conducted itself in keeping with the administrative process, that the science and information utilized supported the department's decisions, and that no political pressure was perceived by any of the key participants," Devaney's letter said.

Perception is always in the eye of the beholder, and your perception better be damn sure if you're going to testify in an IG investigation against the most powerful political operative in the federal government about an important issue in a swing state in an election year.

Happy New Year.

In 2002, I worked on a documentary investigating the American meat industry for the PBS series Frontline. After talking to a lot of experts about Mad Cow and the threat of BSE, we concluded that the real story was about the threat from food borne illness like e coli and salmonella, which kill an estimated 5000 people a year in the United States, not the threat from BSE, which killed about 150 in Great Britain over the last ten years.

The consolidation of the American meat industry, and its determination to vigorously fight any regulation that might impact their low margin business, was, and is, the real story. The name, Mad Cow, and the endless footage of that one cow staggering around drunkenly, provide a neat, sensationalistic storyline, but the intense focus on this issue is off the mark. Check out the website and contact your local PBS station and ask them to rebroadcast "Modern Meat."