Graduation T&A

An alternative version to this...

Our question for selected graduates: What event during your 13 years of school had the most effect on you?


"It had to be the time that Dylan grabbed his step-mother's camcorder and made a movie of us doing it. That was fun, but I wish he hadn't shown it to all of his buddies and then left the tape in there for his step-mother to find."

- Misty Cox
Dowling High School


"The time Nguyen got his Cavalier up to 131 mph on the highway out by Vandalia Rd. I got so nervous I put my seat belt on for the first time ever."

- Long Duc Dong
Lincoln High School


"Had to be the time that my parents left for the weekend and Tre brought some bitches from the city of Waukee. I had a pocket full of rubbers and my homeboy did too. It was just like that Snoop Dogg song. We pretended some ditchweed was Endo and drank gin and juice until I puked all over my parents' bed."

- Mike White
Valley High School

We Hate It When Our Malls Become Successful

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

...The Board of Review, acting on Assessor Bill Greazel’s recommendation, dropped the value of the mall stores not including anchors or the theaters from $96 million to $91 million...

Mall owners protested the initial $45 million overall increase, which included bumping the theaters upward from $2.46 million to $6 million. The hike would force them to shell out another $1.46 million in property taxes starting next year. The reassessment is the first on the mall interior and theaters since its 1998 opening. The board upheld the increase in value for the theaters.

Why can't property tax assessments go up by a prescribed amount each year? It seems rather insane and anti-business to wait 7 years for another assessment and then have the county try to double the valuation. A whopping tax increase like that gets immediately passed on to business in the form of rent increases and, in the end, to consumers.

Related: Property Tax Reform In Iowa

Thermal Imaging For Sheldon

More Homeland Security pork is being dished out to Iowa communities in this Associated Press article in the Quad City Times.

There may be an error in the article. It talks of a $12,500 thermal imaging device going to the "Shelton Police Department" but there's no town named Shelton in Iowa. There is a town of about 5000 people called Sheldon, in the NW corner of the state. Talk about being in the middle of nowhere. You've got to wonder how often they'll blow the dust off of the thermal imager in a town like that.

Secretary Of Vilsack

Nothing could be funnier than watching the Des Moines Register speculate on Governor Vilsack's supposed Presidential aspirations.

What part of "no chance in hell" does Thomas Beaumont not understand?

Vilsack's merely positioning himself for a Hitlery cabinet post. That's all.

Sons of Confederate Veterans

From the Quad City Times:

To pay homage to their ancestors, the Sons of Confederate Veterans-Iowa Camp No. 1759 turned back time by more than a century Monday as they celebrated their own Memorial Day service on the Rock Island Arsenal Island.

Dressed in the gray and brown uniforms of Confederate soldiers and the mourning attire of a widow back then, more than two dozen re-enactors held a dedication service in the Confederate Cemetery to remember those who fought in “the war of the states.”

About 100 spectators watched on Monday morning as the soldiers marched in unison alongside the graves of the Confederate soldiers — all prisoners of war who died at the Rock Island Confederate Prison. The simple ceremony, similar to those held by a unit when a fellow Confederate soldier died, was brought to life by members of the 8th Tennessee and 17th Tennessee Re-enactment Regiments, the Scotts Battery and the Iowa Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

While there are Memorial Day ceremonies honoring soldiers who have died, it's kind of strange to see people dressing up in Confederate uniforms to honor their ancestors. That's weird, don't you think? Especially since Iowa was a Union state. Besides that, shouldn't uniforms for ceremonies (discounting the equally wacky "re-enacting" battle scenes nonsense) be reserved for those who actually served in the military?

Iowa was one of the few states with a POW camp in World War II containing soldiers from the German, Italian, and Japanese armies. It was at Camp Clarinda and contained over 10,000 POWs in a variety of "branch camps" in Charles City, Clinton, Eldora, Muscatine, Onawa, Shenandoah, Storm Lake, Tabor, Toledo, and Waverly.

Wouldn't it be extremely inappropriate to see somebody like a grandson attending or participating in a ceremony wearing a vintage German, Italian, or Japanese army uniform?

Memorial Day Stories In Iowa

Iowa bucks enlistment trend

Events in the Quad Cities

Skinner honored posthumously with Bronze Star

WW2 vet recalls liberating Nazi POW camp

Civil War memorial

The story of the Waterloo Belle

Casket flag funding needed in Sumner

Engraving

The Waterloo Courier begrudgingly writes a Memorial Day editorial to honor our vets. Asses.

The dildos at the Des Moines Register can't even be bothered to look up the history of Memorial Day in their pathetic and clueless editorial.

Doing more than just remembering.

A poignant Carmen Cerra cartoon that appeared in the Ames Tribune.

Herb Strentz, Spitting On All Soldiers And Their Families

Why does the Des Moines Register print a letter like Herb Strentz's on a day like today?

It's clear that the diaper-clad morons running the Register's editorial section have absolutely no concept of what Memorial Day means to most Iowans, or how reading such a letter is like a punch to the gut.

It's an insult to those who have served in the military and given their lives, and should be especially offensive to their families, friends, and descendents. Dick Doak and the rest of the Editorial Board need to grow the fuck up.

Here's the letter by Herb Strentz (emphasis added):

Hidden in the May 10 Register news article, "War's Toll in Iowa," is a terrible fear and perhaps a horrible truth. Our observance of Memorial Day has it all wrong.

Each Memorial Day we pay tribute to those who gave their lives for their country. In ceremonies across the nation, political, civic and military leaders - on behalf of all of us - thank the families who sacrificed sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.

Instead of serving as a time for thanks and expressing heartfelt gratitude, perhaps Memorial Day should be a day of atonement and repentance - a time not to thank families for the loss of loved ones, but a time to apologize for wasting their lives because of inept political leadership, squandered resources and lost opportunities.

True enough, the loss of lives is one price of freedom. But the loss of many lives also is an indictment of those who lead through flag-waving, bellicose rhetoric and ignorance of the costs of war.

The rhetoric of Memorial Day stands in stark, hypocritical contrast to the minimal government support provided veterans, the wounded and the family survivors of those killed. For more than 50 years after World War II, the so-called death gratuity for families was $6,000 for the loved one lost in battle. And half of that was taxed.

Painful as it is, Memorial Day calls for us to recognize that some of those listed as "fallen heroes" by much of the news media are wasted lives that meant so much to us and could have meant so much more.

Memorial Day should be a time of repentance, atonement and apology. Until we get that straight, we're doomed to keep kidding ourselves and covering evidence of our mistakes with flags and shovels of dirt.

Spoken like a true loser.

Just because some asshole like Herb Strentz has a really weird opinion about a holiday doesn't mean that it should be broadcast on that particular day. The Register pulls this shit all the time. What a bunch of America-haters on display.

Related: "Thanksgiving = Genocide" and John Hauptman, Spitting On Iowa Soldiers.

Perhaps Herb Strentz and the idiots at the Register ought to look up a little bit of the history of Memorial Day:

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

So there you go.

Random's Travel Blogging

The third installment from Random's travel blogging weekend is just the best.

Lots of pictures and a real feel for the place.

Yepsen On McVain

Yepsen's column on Senator John McVain's possible prez run in 2008 is laughable and amateurish.

Yepsen suffers from the "McVain Myth" which is an affliction affecting pundits who think that so-called "centrists" (Translation: all those Republicans who will lick the ass of a Democrat and then don't mind being shit on afterwards - Ed.) actually have a chance at getting elected.

First of all, even if McVain survives future cancer scares he'll be 72 years old in 2008. He snubbed Iowa in 2000 and both right-wing nutcases Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes got 14% of the Republican caucus votes in 2000. That's 28% total! Good luck trying to get support with that many bible thumpers in the way.

Second, the only states that gave McVain a lot of votes were ones with open primaries. In other words, Democrats would be voting for a Republican even though they'd never vote for a Republican come election time. Case in point: Even though McVain won the Michigan primary, if you subtract all the Democrats who voted for him you'd find that George Bush would have really won.

There's really very little grassroots support for McVain other than confused columnists like Yepsen, winking lefties, and the usual bunch of idiot rimmers centrists. Yepsen can cheerlead all he wants, but McVain's people know how popular he is in Iowa. THAT'S why you don't see him running around the state.

Porno Q&A

The Press-Citizen has a very good Q&A interview with Jay Clarkson, the "porno" professor at the University of Iowa.

Related: UI Offers Class On Pornography

No Favors For Small Business

From the Quad City Times:

The Iowa Legislature did no favors for the state’s small businesses in its recently completed session, the director of the state’s small-business advocacy group said.

“Not only did the 2005 Iowa Legislature fail to address the high property and income-tax burden borne by small business, they actually passed some new laws that hurt us,’’ said Dave Brasher, the state director of the Iowa chapter of National Federation of Independent Business.

Brasher said the biggest blow may be the new mandate that will force employer-paid health insurance to now cover seven biologically-based mental illnesses the same as any other disease. It is an issue the advocacy group has lobbied against for years...

As the lobbyist for Iowa’s small businesses, Brasher also was a critic of renewing the Iowa Values Fund, citing that 62 percent of his membership opposes the program. “We were only one of two groups registered against it,” he said, adding that the other was a tax relief group based in Muscatine.

“We don’t believe government is very good at picking economic winners and losers,” he said. “We see this as a giant expansion of government which will be handing out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars... ”

Brasher’s assessment also criticized the increase in state spending over last year’s budget. “When state revenues are projected to grow at only about 4 percent, but the legislature votes to increase spending by nearly 8 percent, we fear they are setting Iowans up for major tax hikes in the future.”

Neither party seems to be willing to make the reforms necessary to clean up the red tape and make Iowa a pro-business state. Democrats want to borrow their corporate welfare, impose Socialized medicine, and tax everybody into the stratosphere; whereas the Republicans are merely mimicking President Bush's brand of fiscal irresponsibility when it comes to spending and budgets. The Republicans are bad, but the Democrats are worse.

(I suppose that's sort of a "South Park Conservative" opinion: "We hate Republicans, but we really fucking hate Democrats." - Ed.)

Related: But It Doesn't Cover Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Anne Frank: Honorary Citizen of the Quad-Cities

Hot on the heels of the Iowa Legislature honoring non-Iowan Annette Bening, the Quad Cities (Bettendorf, Davenport, East Moline, Moline and Rock Island) as well as the county govenrments of Scott in Iowa and Rock Island in Illinois have decided to make Anne Frank an "Honorary Citizen of the Quad Cities."

Make The 529 Tax Break Permanent

The Des Moines Register Editorial Board is in favor of making permanent the tax-deferred status and tax-free use of money invested in a college savings plan "529" account:

The least the federal government can do is help families save for the expense.

Currently, Section 529 plans do this. Created by Congress in 1996, the state-administered plans allow families to save money tax free for "qualified higher education expenses." Iowans have more than $1 billion invested in more than 100,000 accounts.

But the federal tax provision is set to expire in 2011. Sen. Chuck Grassley introduced legislation this week to make the tax benefit permanent...

Ensuring the continuation of this tax break is a no-brainer. Helping Americans obtain an education isn't just an investment in an individual. It's an investment in the future of the country.

The Register conveniently leaves out some important information.

While 529s were created in 1996, parents weren't able to withdraw money free of capital gains until the Tax Reform Act of 2001 (HR 1836) was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. You know that piece of legislation. It's the one derided by Democrats, unions, and lefties as a bunch of "tax breaks for the rich."

Like most of the tax breaks in the bill, the 529 exemption from capital gains on withdrawals used for qualified college expenses expires on December 31, 2010 unless made permanent by Congress. Without it, withdrawals will hand these children a huge tax bill on the capital gains.

Why it was just over a year ago when Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack chaired the Democratic Governor's Association and wrote this letter (PDF) to Congress asking to repeal the tax cuts. Does that mean Tom Vilsack is in favor of socking an extra tax burden onto college students whose parents and relatives decided to save money for them through Iowa's College Savings Plan and all the other state-managed plans around the country?

It's fun to look back at the roll call vote on HR 1836 and see the names of the 38 who voted against it: Tom Hypocrite, Ted Kennedy, Hitlery, former KKK member Robert Byrd, Dingy Harry, Confederate flag-raiser Fritz Hollings, Leaky Leahy, Barbara Bouncer, the late Paul Wellstone, the now-gone Tom Daschle, and poor folks like Jay Rockfeller, Jon Corzine, Maria Cantwell, and the Elitist Douchebag himself.

Anyway, it's good to see the Register coming to their senses and supporting at least some part of that legislation.

Rekha Basu Has Run Out Of Things To Bitch About, Part 2

Talk about scraping below the bottom of the barrel.

Related: Rekha Basu Has Run Out Of Things To Bitch About

Thursday Iowa Roundup

13 inches long.

"We're going to do Tiger Woods" - in butter.

"We've got to quit hiring all these black people" - Meredith exec reaches settlement. Silver parachute?

Gambling money used to cover Polk County's ass.

Child abuse up.

Two year old runs around in the street in Coralville while the parents are getting high.

Food stamp growth up.

Vilsack pimping Iowa to the South Koreans for investment.

23 year old Yale grad who wrote the book "Delaying the Real World" walks the walk and talks the talk at the University of Iowa.

Iowa had third-highest turnout at the polls for 18-to-24 year olds in 2004. We became a Red State, y'know.

Get out and enjoy the weather. It's gorgeous.

Phyrric Victory In The Appeals Court

From Radio Iowa:

The Iowa Court of Appeals has struck down two of the three gun convictions against an Indianola man who held police at bay outside his ex-wife's house in 1999. Though, that the man will remain behind bars for decades.After leading cops on a high-speed chase, Wayne Sinclair holed-up in his ex-wife's house in Indianola for four days with his two young sons as hostages. A state trooper tackled Sinclair just outside the home in a dramatic, televised ending to the stand-off.

The Court of Appeals has ruled the gun charges against Sinclair should have been rolled into one. But the court upheld more the serious convictions like kidnapping and attempted murder against Sinclair. He was originally sentenced to a maximum of 72 years in prison and the court's ruling on the gun charges won't reduce that sentence. With credit for good behavior behind bars, Sinclair could be released after serving 44 years in prison.

Here's the Court of Appeals opinion in the case.

If the police had been wise, they would have shot and killed Sinclair when he pulled a weapon on them after coming out of the house. Too bad they missed their chance.

The Reality Of Ethanol

Wendell Koch of Waterloo writes to the Des Moines Register today:

Hundreds of the Iowa state-fleet cars are being fueled with E85. The pump price of E85 is about $1.85 per gallon compared to about $2 for unleaded.

This appears to make E85 very competitive until the U.S. government ethanol subsidy and E85 efficiency are factored in. The United States subsidizes ethanol 52 cents per gallon prior to blending. Taxpayers are paying 44 cents per gallon of E85, increasing the actual price to $2.29. Unfortunately E85 is 25 percent less efficient than unleaded gasoline. Hence, the state (we taxpayers) must purchase one and one-third gallons of E85 to obtain the same mileage from one gallon of unleaded.

So now we are paying $3.05 for fuel with an equivalent mileage obtained from $2.00 of unleaded. It would be very interesting to hear the state justify this ridiculous program that increases fuel costs more than 50 percent.

Mr Koch is right about this. Ethanol is highly subsidized by Federal taxpayers, which is why you see a whole bunch of ethanol-producing plants popping up all over Iowa.

You know what else costs a lot of money? Being dependent on foreign oil.

Would Americans mind paying over $3 a gallon to fuel their vehicles if it meant eliminating the need to buy oil from communists like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and the Muslim kooks in House of Saud? And if the money went to farmers, bio-engineers, and ethanol producers throughout the heartland, wouldn't that be a good thing?

"They turned a rapist and a murderer loose today"

From the Des Moines Register:

Loren Huss, a 42-year-old rapist and killer, walked out of jail a free man Wednesday when a Polk County jury ruled he is no longer a danger to the public...

Dorothy Wallace paced and shook her head.

"It's a sad verdict," said Wallace, whom Huss robbed, beat and left partially naked on an east Des Moines parking lot in 1980.

"They turned a rapist and a murderer loose today," Wallace said. "God help us all. . . . Every woman in this town is in danger."

Huss, convicted of robbery for the attack on Wallace, blamed the incident on a combination of alcohol, drugs, immature behavior and a bad attitude toward women. He cited mostly the same reasons for his role in the gang rape of a young woman near Saylorville Lake the following year.

But Huss testified last week, and psychiatrists confirmed, that his attitude had improved by the time he left prison in 1984.

By 1986, Huss was living with Marilyn Sheets in a Des Moines apartment. He says he began to get messages from the radio and television that urged him to fight the devil.

Defense-paid psychiatrists testified at his seven-day trial that Huss suffered a psychotic delusion and was in the manic state of bipolar disorder when he attacked Sheets on May 19, 1986.

Huss said he attempted to get the devil out of Sheets when he beat her to death, gouged out her eyes, bit off her nose and wrote on the walls in her blood.

When police found him with Sheets' naked body in a mostly demolished apartment, Huss was shouting and jumping up and down. It took five officers to subdue him.

Huss was convicted of first-degree murder in 1987, but a federal appeals court later awarded him a new trial. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2001.

Two years later, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Huss, who had shown no symptoms of the bipolar disorder since 1986, was not dangerous and could no longer be held for mental treatment. By then, state prosecutors had filed papers to hold him indefinitely as a sexual predator.

Lawyers with the Iowa attorney general's office argued to the end that Sheets' murder was a sexually motivated crime. State-paid psychiatrists insisted last week that Huss remains dangerously attracted to nonconsensual sex and is more likely than not to reoffend.

Here's the Huss decision from the Iowa Supreme Court in 2003.

The whole Eighth Circuit/habeas corpus/double jeopardy ruling is difficult to understand, making the subsequent hearings and rulings even more perplexing.

Update: Random blogged about it last November. She also has a followup today.

Failure To Perform

This makes sense:

The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday ended a requirement that a Johnson County man pay $4,000 a year for his son’s college expenses, pointing to the son’s poor performance in the classroom...

Child support obligations generally end when the child reaches 18, but state law specifically allows child support to continue to help cover college costs.

A lower court agreed, and ordered the support payment, which Moore appealed.

He noted that his son’s grade point average for the academic year was 1.48, compared to an average in the spring semester for freshmen at ISU of 2.60.

“He was to return to Iowa State University on academic probation,” the court said.

The Appeals Court pointed to a section of the state law requiring that parents be routinely notified of the child’s grades when the college payments are ordered, and noted the law requires a student “to maintain a cumulative grade point in the median range or above during the first calendar year.”

“The statute is specifically directed to performance, namely grades,” the court said. “Furthermore, it provides no exception for excuses for failure to perform.”

Hate your divorced dad in Iowa? Get good grades in college.

Update just a few minutes later: Here's the opinion at the Court of Appeals web site.

And here's a link to 598.21 Orders for disposition and support

There's a little bit more in the opinion than the news story lets on. What was the kid thinking by taking 35 1/2 hours in his first two semesters as a freshman at ISU and having a girlfriend at the same time? That's insane. He got a 1.17 GPA during the spring semester of 2004 when he was taking 18 hours.

And both parents have clearly spent more on attorney's fees for this case than putting junior through a year of ISU.

You certainly can't fault the mom for forcing the father to pay because he welched on his verbal obligation to his son, but she should have known the law with regard to child support and been diligent that junior get good grades. Very, very sad.

Up All Night

The Jordan Creek Wal-Mart store controversy in West Des Moines gets more interesting with an inevitable lawsuit.

Back on April 11th the WDM City Council voted 3-2 to restrict Wal-Mart's hours on their fancy new store to 8am to 10pm Monday through Saturday and 8am to 9pm on Sunday. The City Council voted to uphold these hours on April 26th. (Gee, how long before they ban rock and roll, interracial marriage, co-ed swimming, and gasoline sales on Sunday? - Ed.)

Now the Council is trying to draft an ordinance that is slightly different:

Under the proposed ordinance, which at times sparked heated debate among council members, the Wal-Mart could be open from 6 a.m. to midnight daily.

This morning, Wal-Mart filed a lawsuit concerning initial restrictions.

It seems kind of silly that such a restriction would occur in a metro area like what Polk & Dallas counties have grown into. And if you're moving into a housing development near a major upscale mall that buttresses empty acres of land that's zoned for retail, what do you expect?

When one of the four cheapie toilets in your McMansion breaks in the middle of the night, you'll appreciate having a 24-hour Wal-Mart nearby in order to fix the problem since you're too cheap stretched financially to call a proper plumber and pay the $110 he'll charge you for driving over at 2am.

It's almost hard to believe that the expanded Wal-Mart in Iowa City is having an easier time of being approved that in allegedly business-friendly West Des Moines.

The Bonership Society

Greg Beato has a funny column at Wonkette yesterday concerning Grassley's push to eliminate hard-on drugs from Medicare and Medicaid.

We mentioned this proposed legislation last month when Iowa's dumbest Congressman (And that's saying something! - Ed.) Steve King weighed in with some misleading figures that fail to quantify the fact that Pfizer's patents on sildenafil citrate (aka Viagra) start to expire in 2011.

Somewhat related: How To Eliminate Underage Drinking: Lower The Drinking Age

The Bonnie Campbell Thing

Rekha Basu, naturally, has a column today concerning Bonnie Campbell, the former Iowa Attorney General who was nominated by Bill Clinton in 1999 to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St Louis, but the nomination got bottled up in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It's actually a pretty good column, although it's tough to squeeze the history of the thing into a space holding only a few hundred words.

Bonnie Campbell did get screwed by the process and she should have been approved, but then so should have Miguel Estrada and Charles Pickering. At least Campbell didn't get called a "sellout" or a "racist" like Estrada and Pickering did, respectively.

Campbell's problem seemed to be that she answered questions this way during her failed 1994 run for the Iowa Guv job (via NewsBank):

Q: What is your opinion of the religious right in politics and do you feel they have a right to be involved? - Linda Payne, Central City

BONNIE CAMPBELL: Equal rights for all Americans, whatever their religion, is one of the crowning glories of our Constitution.

I firmly believe that all Iowans have the right to be involved in politics and in their children's education.

We must remember that it is the extremists of the radical right who call their opponents "un-Christian."

As a Methodist, I am saddened and personally offended when others use Christianity to sanctify their own secular, political agenda.

Ralph Reed, leader of the Christian Coalition, will tell you that there is only one correct Christian view on issues like term limits, gun control, privatization, even certain (but not all) tax deductions!

My religious beliefs are not the issue, and neither are the governor's. It's time we had real, honest leadership to address concerns of all Iowans, whatever their religion.

We need to focus on solutions that will unite us, not rhetoric that will continue to divide us. You can't love your neighbor if you don't listen to him.

Her crime seemed to be that she pissed off the followers of Ralph Reed.

That's all.

From news reports in 1999, when Campbell's nomination was tied up in the Senate Judiciary Committee, it seemed as if Grassley tried to persuade fellow Republicans on the committee to allow a vote, but instead Orrin Hatch and the gang decided to let the nomination die. Hatch, a weasel, then came out with a myriad of excuses why Campbell's nomination never progressed.

Rekha's column then deals with the issue of the filibuster, of which she seems perplexed on what to think and turns to a column by former Clinton flunky John Podesta for advice.

Harkin probably had it right in his failed 1995 attempt to scale down the filibuster by allowing multiple votes with declining majorities needed to invoke cloture. And, of course, any nominee making it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee should be entitled to an up-or-down vote.

Gronstal For Guv?

Mike Gronstal, the nicotine-gum addict and disgusting slob from Council Bluffs is, according to the Des Moines Register, going to "talk with some people about raising some money" concerning maybe running for Iowa Governor.

Classy.

Gronstal also wanted to indebt Iowans with hundreds of millions of dollars of bonding in order to give the money away as corporate welfare.

And he won't win over pro-death penalty Democrats by his disallowing any debate on the death penalty in the last legislative session.

Related: Iowa Governor Beauty Contest
Related: Oh, Fallon!
Related: Fallon All Over My Retrosexual Self

Senator Random

Forget running for governor, Random.

You should be in the Iowa Legislature after posting that excellent suggested tweaking of the indecent exposure laws to handle relatively innocent mooning, streaking, skinny dipping, and heavy petting in cars at the Lost Planet (Google Satellite or Maps).

Preferably the Iowa Senate.

That $25,000 a year salary probably looks real tempting.

Now we've got to find you a better district to move into. You like Ankeny? How about the south side of Sheldahl?

Worse case scenario is that you'll have to move to Sioux City and be in the House. Euwwww.....

You'll need a Murray Chotiner. Look no further than here.

Soy Un Perdedor

The giant carbuncle is going to lose a million dollars in the first year according to a report this afternoon in the Des Moines Register.

The Swinging Amish

This is a bizarre story from the Waterloo Courier:

A district court judge on Monday ruled an Amish mother should keep primary custody of a 14-month-old daughter conceived in an affair with an Oelwein businessman.

Judge K.D. Briner's order cited the father's age, family circumstances and "stunningly irresponsible behavior" as factors in his decision. But it also contained a strict warning to the mother, Edna Schrock, and her family: Refuse visitation to the father and the result will almost certainly be a loss of custody.

Schrock, 30, was an employee at Oelwein Landscaping two years ago when she and owner Dieter Erdelt, 67, formed a relationship. Erdelt was married at the time and Schrock was seeing her husband-to-be.

This is a cringe-worthy case on so many levels, but the saddest part is that an innocent child is in the middle of it all.

Iowa Roundup

Chad Tusk: "Chicken Shit Worthless Senators"

Jeff Talon: "...Who should come riding to [Senator Harry Reid's] rescue but seven GOP dwarfs"

100 million gallons of ethanol a year will be produced in Albert City by September 2006. Groundbreaking is next month.

SCOTUS case from Connecticut could affect Des Moines eminent domain land grab by out of control politicians used as a proxy by big business under the guise of economic development.

New meth law goes into effect today.

Bears in Iowa?

Over $12,000 raised for former Hawkeye guard Kenny Arnold, who has been battling brain cancer for the past 20 years.

Vilsack signs $83 tax break for National Guard and Reservist lifers.

Vilsack and Blouin are flying to South Korea and China.

McLeod USA wants to delay paying their bills while they attempt to merge, sell, or declare bankruptcy for the second time since 2002.

Tyrannical Outdoor Privies

Senator Hypocrite did keep his offices open last night:

...Harkin on the floor said he was "very pleased" to hear about an agreement that preserved the rights of the minority in the Senate. He also said Iowans have been "absolutely astonished" that the Senate has been "distracted" by the threats of the "nuclear option."

Harkin earlier on Monday had announced he would keep his Washington and Des Moines offices open around the clock as the filibuster continued, and gather comments from Iowans via the phone and e-mail as to what they would rather see the Senate debating.

Late Monday night, Harkin said he had already received 600 e-mails and 500 phone calls from Iowans.

"We've been inundated with messages from Iowans telling us what they want the Senate to stay up all night working on, and believe me, detonating the nuclear option is not on their list," said Harkin, citing instead health care, job security, pensions, education, the war in Iraq and gasoline prices.

Why it was just a little over 10 years ago when Harkin wanted to completely change the filibuster in the Senate, effectively getting rid of it. My how times change.

Related: Dear Senator Hypocrite

Letters: From the War On Terrorism to the War On Dandelions

Eric Lewis of Clarence writes to the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

From the day that the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor took place on Dec. 7, 1941, to the day that the United States defeated Japan on Aug. 15, 1945, a time period of 1,348 days had elapsed.

May 20 of this year marked the day that the so-called "War on Terrorism" reached it's own 1,348th day (from Sept. 11, 2001), making the duration of the current conflict which our country finds itself engaged in as long as the United States' involvement in World War II.

Regardless of what one's opinion is of the "correctness" of this ongoing military action, the fact that this endeavor is exceeding the time frame that World War II was fought within is a disturbing one.

The United States cannot "win" in Iraq no matter how good our intentions. The anti-American insurgency will grow with the creation of each civilian casualty, regardless of whether these casualties were inflicted by the insurgents or by the United States. This might not seem fair, but "fair" is not part of the equation in this conflict.

Let's not allow this war to drag on any longer.

Expect to see more ignorant letters like this one in the coming weeks.

It took the US almost 7 years to get a democratically-elected government in Germany. and almost 11 in Japan. And it wasn't like all fighting ceased after VE and VJ day. Many US troops were killed by snipers and holdouts in the years following the end of WW2.

And the United States still has 305 military sites in Germany and 158 in Japan. Is that not some sort of an occupation? It is, but who wanted a revival of what the Japanese military was with their kamikazes and death marches, and the Germans starving Jews and shoving them into gas chambers? At least Rumsfeld has a plan to bring home some of the troops involved with affairs following World War 2 and close many of these sites. It's long overdue.

Along the same lines, Rodger Routh of Ankeny writes to the Des Moines Register.

...It is also clear that the U.S. presence in Iraq is only bringing more pain and suffering to the common folk of this devastated country. The people there do not want the U.S. form of democracy forced down their throat. All parties would be better served by American withdrawal and a full investigation into the rationale and the decision-makers who brought us to this point.

Yeah, you certainly don't want women doing anything in Iraq, especially voting. They clearly prefer to live under Sharia Law, be illiterate, and be subjected to at least 400 "honor killings" every year. It takes real men like Rodger Routh and gangs of Taliban-like, anti-female Muslim fanatics to decide what women in Iraq should be.

What a lunatic. Is this what the anti-war, far-left in the United States has turned into? A bunch of anti-female, anti-Democracy, pro-fantatic types? That's screwed up. We deposed a dictator of a brutal regime who used the country's wealth to finance his lifestyle, bought off the crooked United Nations, harbored and funded terrorists, invaded neighboring countries, and killed hundreds of thousands of political rivals, their families, and buried them in mass graves.

If we follow Rodger's line of thinking then dammit we should have an investigation why we invaded Germany during World War 2. Somebody roll FDR's bones out of his grave and put him on trial at The Hague. The United States wasn't attacked by the Nazis - only the Japanese! And the US was probably illegally occupying The Kingdom of Hawai'i. So what if Hitler declared war against the United States? He didn't sink the USS Arizona! World War 2 wasn't about oil or anything. It was about the JEWS. J-E-W-S.

You can see how historical analogies can get out of hand...

John Hauptman of Ankeny writes to the Register today and reveals a weird fetish with Fox News:

I read newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and The Des Moines Register). In years past, newspapers had the depth of coverage to not only cover the breaking, current news, but also to provide background information, some history, breadth to a news story. This background was at the end of articles and sometimes was extensive.

The Register is the best platform for the education of Americans. Only in your newspaper can Iowans read real history, real background to these complex issues so that they can "stop letting them do all our thinking for us." In sad contrast, Fox News can only serve to misinform Americans with its 20-second "news" items.

Newspapers in general are declining in readership and resources. You will never compete with Fox News for glitz. Rather you should beat them handily with real content, depth, coverage of reality that no TV news can hope to achieve. What will it cost you? Some ink and some brains.

Mr Hauptman, your nose has something brown on it. I think you've been reading too much Jayson Blair, Michael Kinsley, and Mark Morford and the ink has permanently stained your brain. And it appears your subscription to Newsweak needs to be renewed.

Finally, Pat Smith of Waterloo writes to the Courier about something really important

I have a suggestion for spending the $1 million the city is to receive from the Isle of Capri.

In the past few weeks, I have noticed that so much city property is inundated by dandelions. Said property looks totally disreputable and even when mowed, it looks terrible.

How about buying dandelion spray and cleaning up the place? If I were an out-of-towner driving into Waterloo, I would be very turned off by the large amount of property that looks so bad. I'd probably wonder about what else in this town is so poorly maintained.

Nevermind the boarded-up houses and rotten inner core of Waterloo, there's a dandelion problem!

Dear Senator Hypocrite

From the Des Moines Register this afternoon:

If you're sleepless tonight, give Sen. Tom Harkin a call. He'll be waiting for you.

The Iowa Democrat announced that he will keep his Washington and Des Moines offices open around the clock tonight and Tuesday as members of the U.S. Senate stay in session debating judicial nominations.

Harkin said he wants Iowans to call or e-mail him about what they wish the Senate were discussing instead of nominations. "What about health care, education, rising gas prices and the minimum wage?" he asked in a press release.

Harkin can be e-mailed through his Web site at http://harkin.senate.gov or called at (202) 224-3254 or (515) 284-4574.

Dear Senator Hypocrite,

Thank you for scaring the shit out of the oil companies recently with your "record profits" speech. Ever since then, the price of gas has gone down 15%. Perhaps your elitist douchebag, independent, carpetbagging, tourist wife of yours called her former employer, ConocoPhillips, from your vacation home in the Bahamas and told them to stop it. Whatever happened, thanks for keeping down the price of gas. We owe it all to you. Slurp, slurp.

One more thing. We'd also like to know why in 1995 you were in favor of doing away with the filibuster entirely, which you equated with "horses and buggies, outdoor privies, lamplighters", but today you think that eliminating the filibuster strictly on judicial nominees is "the beginning of a trail to tyranny."



UPDATE: Dear Senator Frist, even though you're supposed to be this hotshot doctor who's wasting his time being a Senator, you continue to be living proof that humans, or at least Republican Senators, cannot grow spines and testicles after either not being born with them or losing them over the course of a lifetime.

And according to the Associated Press, former KKK member Robert Byrd is a "centrist" - whatever the fuck that means.

The New Urbanism In Iowa

Don at Tusk and Talon poses a question concerning "New Urbanism" neighborhoods, like the one proposed for Davenport and the fledgling Peninsula Neighborhood in Iowa City.

We've seen the Peninsula Neighborhood in Iowa City and while it's a cool concept there are many factors that aren't appealing. The microscopic yards won't attract families. The prices are insane. The intersection that leads you to this neighborhood (Dubuque St and Foster Rd) is a death trap. An upgrade to the intersection has been started, but will take many months to complete. It would take at least 15 to 20 minutes of driving to find a grocery store. You are not in walking distance of anything. The closest bus route is a very long walk away. Oh, and your neighbors may be Section 8-ers.

Meanwhile, the Plaza Towers condos in downtown Iowa City are sold out and housing permits in Johnson County are going absolutely bananas. If the Peninsula Neighborhood in Iowa City is faltering, imagine what a disaster it would be in Davenport - a town where you can still buy a decent 1920s-1930s bungalow in a steady neighborhood for less than $100K.

What is it about these failed ideas? What seems to happen is that some nutty bureaucRAT visits San Francisco, Baltimore, or Philadelphia on the taxpayer's dime and gets all smitten with row housing and wants to shoe-horn it into mostly-rural Iowa. Maybe that was fine for crammed urban areas with streetcars in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but times have changed.

Gambling Expansion

Dick Doak has an interesting editorial in the Register this morning with a brief historical perspective concerning gambling (and alcohol's) expansion in Iowa.

The Register's Letters section is mostly filled with anti-expansion letters. Some of them are quite good.

But back to Dick's column. Read this:

What brought about such a big change in Iowans' sense of morality?

This is my theory: Cheap air fares put a trip to Las Vegas within everyone's reach. Iowans flocked there, had fun and came back thinking gambling wasn't so evil after all.

Who's Dick kidding? The Des Moines Register and Iowa's politicians during the late 1980s and early 1990s sold pie-in-the-sky lies to Iowans when they allowed casinos on the borders and slot machines in order save Prairie Meadows. Remember how the profits of the lottery and the casinos were going to help pay for better schools and better roads and better everything?

This was all based on the theory that the border casinos would suck tourist money from Illinois and Nebraska or Connecticut. Or wherever. And Prairie Meadows was initially created so that Iowans wouldn't take their horse racing money to Ak-Sar-Ben.

You don't hear anything about tourism anymore, or it's way down the list. Who is going to go to Ottumwa for tourism, except maybe people from Eddyville or Bloomfield? Want to gamble in southern Iowa? You can go to Fort Madison in the summer, Burlington in the winter, or Osceola year-round. From Ottumwa, all of these locations are a mere 70 to 80 mile drive.

Dick gives up with paragraphs like these:

Gambling does offer one advantage to communities that other types of economic activity don't. The gambling industry allows itself to be taxed very heavily, and that tax revenue can be used to provide public services and amenities that a community couldn't otherwise afford. Those same amenities could be provided if people were willing to be taxed in other ways, but they aren't. Paying hefty taxes and making large charitable contributions might make gambling more attractive to a community than some other industry that would demand tax concessions.

Besides, for a lot of Iowa communities, a casino really is the best hope, and that's sad, too. What other options are available to the typical Iowa town?

An ethanol plant? Bio-diesel plant? Wind turbine manufacturing? Solar technologies? Certified public accountants?

How about creating a climate in Iowa that is enticing to business? Instead of trying to out-spend every other state with taxpayer-and-business-financed "fiscally prudent" corporate welfare, why not simplify Iowa's tax laws? Why not try to lower Iowa's tax rates? Instead of having a casino within a 70 or 80 mile drive of any location within the state, we should county governments spaced that far apart (That's a county seat every 140 to 160 miles, folks - Ed.)

Dick Doak is such a pessimist about Iowa. His glass is constantly half-empty, except when it comes to anything that fills public coffers and raises taxes.

Polk County Drunk Drivers

People who pleaded guilty or were found guilty between May 5 and 12 of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, according to Polk County District Court records...

Out of the 22 people listed, 11 of them have been found guilty for a second or third time. Four of them are third offense drunk drivers.

Don't you think by the time that somebody has racked up three drunk driving convictions that they can no longer be trusted behind the wheel?

Chet Culver Is A Dumbass

From the Iowa Politics web site:

[Cullen Sheehan, Republican Party of Iowa executive director] added, “We are happy that Chet Culver is willing to fix a mistake so that he actually complies with the law, but you’d think the state’s top elections official would have figured out our election laws at some point during his six years in office. Of course, this is the same person who had to wait two weeks before declaring George Bush the winner in Iowa, so maybe this latest development shouldn’t surprise Iowans at all. There does seem to be a pattern where it takes him a while to catch on.”

Sheehan noted that Culver’s mistake “not only raises questions about what he’s been doing on taxpayers’ time but it also raises another round of doubts and concerns about his ability to handle the governorship. The bottom line is that Chet’s proven again that he’s just not ready for prime time.”

The Register has a story in Friday's paper by Thomas Beaumont that tries to lay the blame on the Ethics Panel. Kinda. Sorta. They wish.

Chet's office has screwed up in the past, so perhaps he's not ready for prime time.

Nevertheless, you can't help but think of that old Steve Martin bit that he did in his monologue when hosting Saturday Night Live back in 1977 (featuring the [cough] "Not Ready For Prime Time Players":

You.. can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. "Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?" First.. get a million dollars. Now.. you say, "Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, 'You.. have never paid taxes'?" Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: "I forgot!" How many times do we let ourselves get into terrible situations because we don't say "I forgot"? Let's say you're on trial for armed robbery. You say to the judge, "I forgot armed robbery was illegal." Let's suppose he says back to you, "You have committed a foul crime. you have stolen hundreds and thousands of dollars from people at random, and you say, 'I forgot'?" Two simple words: Excuuuuuse me!!"

Endowment For Me But Not For Thee

A big story this weekend was the large listing of colleges and universities with billion dollar endowments. The University of Iowa is almost there, according to a combo staff/wire report at the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

At the University of Iowa, the endowment totals $737.7 million as of June 30, 2004, said Tiffani Shaw, chief financial officer for the UI Foundation. That number represents the combined endowments of the UI Foundation -- the school's fund-raising arm -- and UI's separate endowment, which is invested in stocks and bonds.

Wait just a second. Aren't stocks and bonds risky investments?

What's the matter with good old Treasury bonds? The US Government has never defaulted on bonds ever. Why not invest the endowment money there?

Better idea: How about handing that endowment money over to Congress and letting them can buy Treasury bills on behalf of the University of Iowa? Congress could "invest" that money into higher education in the short-term. And when the money is needed then the University of Iowa can ask Congress to redeem some bonds. What's so risky about that? Hardee har har...

You Forgot To Mention That Both Harkin and Grassley are Hypocrites

Jane Norman's short piece in the Register on the "nuclear option" concerning eliminating filibusters in the Senate on Federal judicial nominees fails to indicate that both Harkin and Grassley are hypocrites concerning the issue.

Harkin, especially.

The Problem With Schools

The Des Moines Register has a big story today on how the local option sales tax isn't generating the revenues expected in order to put the kids of Des Moines in "21st Century Schools."

It's hardly a big surprise, but there are some solutions other than whacking everybody with higher taxes to possibly fix the problem.

1. Graduate kids at age 16.

If kids have enough mastery of the basics at age 16, they should be able to go on to community college, university, a trade appreticeship, or the workforce. This will free up at least two grades in high schools, possibly cut student/teacher ratios, and slash dropout rates. Yes, it cuts into the (fairly recent) tradition of prom, homecoming, and the business of high school sports, but are these really big priorities?

Graduating kids at age 16 would cause a boom for community colleges, the state universities, and the skilled trades. Those who enter the workforce will take entry-level positions while, most likely, living at home. It's a big win for higher education and the economy.

Those who enter university or college at age 16 will usually finish by age 20 or 21, so the lure of reckless alcoholism may be less of an issue. Maybe. And most kids whose parents have insurance plans through work can usually stay on them as a full-time student through age 21, which nukes the "health insurance required" mandate proposed by some at ISU and UI.

2. Let the school districts offer pre-school.

Vilsack wants state-sponsored pre-school/daycare, so with the top two grades lopped off why not give it to him?

Other countries, such as England, get their kids out by age 16. Why not the US? Why warehouse a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds and force them to take more rigorous courses? Let community college, universities, colleges, and trade schools handle that task.

Marv Hain Jr Of Coralville Doesn't Like President Bush, We Think

Marv Hain Jr of Coralville, writing to the Iowa City Press-Citizen today, needs a laxative:

Just ask a Bush supporter how many innocent civilians have died in an unnecessary war, rushed into unilaterally and based on lies. You will get an irrational interpretation of spin clung onto to support their socialized need for their team to win. The reality is the reason this "administration" engaged in this war is to establish an imperialistic world socioeconomic stronghold in the Middle East.

I guess Mr Hain didn't read this.

Mr Hain is a serial letter-to-the-editor writer from the Hate Chimpy Bushitler wing of the psycho ward. In addition to writing to the Press-Citizen, he gets published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The below are via NewsBank, and this first letter was published on April 30th in the Gazette:

What a country we have become. Enough people support the deaths of 10,000 innocent Iraqi people and some 1,600 U.S. troops for imperialism and oil to allow it to continue. But when the frat boy dictator who's responsible starts messing with Social Security, his approval ratings drop.

This shows where this country's priorities are focused. We dissociate the meaningless murder of our fellow human beings but take note when our pocketbook gets a nudge.

Pathetic. Recently Bush was booed at the pope's funeral. Is it time to wake up or should we just continue on into the toilet?

And this was published on March 20, 2005 in the Gazette:

A reminder to a society with a short-lived memory that power-hungry Republicans thrive on: Bush was not elected to his first term but was appointed by Supreme Court Republicans and his daddy's money.

Al Gore received many more votes than Bush did, not to mention the third-party anti-Republican votes.

After the laziest period a U.S. "president" has ever served, Bush's popularity was dropping. The 2001 terrorist attacks gave him what he needed: A nation content for anyone to lead them in their grief and a reason to sell his hunger for the occupation and destruction of Iraq.

Bush lied about the need for going to war, rushed into it without planning and insulted allied nations and Americans who recognized his insanity. He has caused the worst division in this country since the Civil War (and is fueling another).

He continues to sacrifice the lives of those who have chosen to serve their country, luring them into his war with delusional and self-serving definitions of patriotism and democracy.

What an incredible insult to Vietnam veterans to see misuse of power and destruction of American lives happen again.

Promoting fear created by the terrorist attacks, Bush brainwashed a sufficient number of naive voters into believing imperialism would serve us better than world unity. He ignored the likely perpetrators of the attacks on our country, allowing them to get away and continue to plan attacks.

Being a rich and incumbent "president," Bush had a strong advantage over John Kerry in the last election. Still, more people voted against him than against any other president in history. A brainwashed and/or power-hungry minority are responsible for the worst "president" this country has ever known.

And this on January 25, 2005 in the Press-Citizen:

Recently Bush "yes man" and 'Nam vet sellout John McCain appeared on Tucker Carlson's cable show. Dis-cussing illegal immigration of Mexicans, they cited a vast problem, though both agreed that the country would shut down if the "illegals" left. This is because conservative businessmen take advantage of the immigrants' desperation to feed their families by paying them much less than "real" Americans.

McCain suggested that it's OK to bring in Mexicans to work at sweatshop jobs that "Americans" won't work in, providing they have legal citizenship. Typical of Republican ideas, this contradiction implies an Orwellian hierarchy of citizenship status in which some "Americans" (aka Republicans) are more equal than others. Next, they'll be promoting Affirmative Act-ion as long as those who use it are willing to pick cotton and shine shoes.

Carlson added that he believes "Americans" like himself should have the right to stop allowing immigrants to enter "our" country. I guess the ownership he is implying occurred after we came over here as immigrants ourselves, and proceeded to slaughter and colonize the "native" Americans, including Mexicans, whom were here before us. Watch out folks, "White Man's Burden" is alive and well on the right!

And this on January 2, 2005 in the Gazette:

Imagine you lost a loved one in the World Trade Center attack. You watched as the "leader" of your country vowed to find those responsible. Only later did you realize that, as he spoke, he was plotting to use the death of your loved one as a tool to invade a country that had nothing to do with the attack, for his rich friends' gain.

Imagine you listened as the "leader" of your country suggested you turn toward religion for comfort. Then you watched an election in which those in power used religion and created fear as tools to maintain power and push their narcissistic and hypocritical definition of morality into American government.

Imagine you enlisted in the military. You made the decision to put your life in the hands of our "leaders," trusting that they would not abuse this ultimate expression of patriotism. Imagine finding out later that these "leaders" lied about why they went to war, defined patriotism for their purposes, and used American lives for their selfish gain.

Imagine being legally obligated to continue to serve under these people.

The current "leaders" of our nation have used the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the lives of those serving in our military and religion for their own socioeconomic greed. They seek to mix church and state, and set back women's rights.

Why do we let these people use American lives for their gain? Why do we let them send other Americans to an ill-defined war when they refuse to make this sacrifice themselves? Why do we let immoral people define nationalism and morality?

And this on November 18, 2004 in the Gazette:

The votes have been counted. The result: Everyone loses. In the last couple of years, a package of fear propaganda was manufactured and put up for sale, wrapped with ill-defined patriotism and adorned with a ribbon of hypocritical morality. It has been purchased at a great cost.

Those voting pro-life ignored the deaths of thousands in a war based on lies. Those voting for national security seemed not to realize the people they voted for caused the increased danger.

Those of us who mourn our wounded democracy do so with fear, anger and some amount of hopelessness. How can we participate in a society whose opportunity to be world leader has been election-validated as "evil empire?" How can we watch as progress made toward individual rights seems doomed? We've turned down a road of destruction previously traveled by pre-World War II Germany and the Roman Empire.

We who oppose must stick together and wear our fear, anger and hopelessness as a badge of pride, proud that these changes occurred without our validation. We must fight to remind the world what patriotism and democracy are supposed to be. Eventually, as the lies offered to win this election are further exposed and felt, even some of those too busy waxing their SUVs or thumping their Bibles to understand this election will join us.

I am proud to be an American who supported our troops and our country by voting against Bush.

OK, enough. I think we get the point.

Dick Gephardt: The Dependability Consultant

The Maytag story is getting odder and odder.

The Register has spoken to a number of people who think higher bids may be coming - from South Korean appliance manufacturers.

Add into this mix that the CEO of the investment partnership wanting to buy Maytag at fire sale prices has been talking with now-Goldman Sachs consluttant Dick Gephardt about strategy makes this a very appealing story to track.

Why?

• You've got an investment firm from New York wanting to buy Maytag on the cheap after millionaire CEO Ralph Hake ran the stock price into the ground over the last 5 years - a time in which exports should have boomed thanks to a weak dollar.
  
  
• The investment firm has Mr Dick Protectionism doing conslutting work (Wonder how much Dick's getting paid? - Ed.).
  
  
• You've got Governor Corporate Welfare saying All Is Well and that "meet the new boss" wants "workers" to be involved in making decisions. Yeah, right!
  

Seems like a corporate raider/protectionist/fiscally-prudent taxpayer-financed corporate welfare threesome pre-emptive strike against those gooks. Know what I mean?

Who knows? Could be wrong...

Judge Hulse: Pierre Pierce Can Do ALMOST Whatever The Hell He Wants

This is screwed up:

Former Iowa basketball player Pierre Pierce will be allowed to participate next month in an NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago, but won’t be allowed to leave Iowa to prepare for it, a judge decided today.

Dallas County District Court Judge Gregory Hulse said that restrictions imposed on Pierce will limit him to living in Iowa until his trial Aug. 16. He is accused of two counts of burglary, one count of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, and one count of fourth-degree criminal mischief for allegedly assaulting a woman and vandalizing her home in West Des Moines in January.

Hulse made his ruling after a contentious 90-minute hearing in which prosecutors and Pierce’s lawyers clashed over whether Pierce should be allowed to attend the pre-draft camps.

“Past behavior is a better predictor of future conduct than empty promises,” Hulse said in court.

The ruling could make it more difficult for Pierce to prepare for the June 28 NBA draft.

Hulse said he will allow Pierce to attend a camp for prospective professional players next month in Chicago, but the player must post a $30,000 bond before he leaves the state. In addition, Pierce would be restricted to living at his parents’ home in Westmont, Ill., and would be required to return to Iowa immediately after the camp.

Pierce's agent, Todd Ramasar, said the ruling would make it more difficult for the former Hawkeye to prepare for the draft, but "it doesn't make it impossible."

"We are simply going to have to see if teams can get to Iowa to look at him," Ramasar said. "That could be a problem because of scheduling, but we will just have to see what we can work out."

Pierce, 21, was among those to testify Friday. He admitted that he made a substantial number of additional telephone calls to the alleged victim in his burglary and assault case — in violation of a no-contact order...

Prosecutors argued that Pierce shouldn't be allowed to leave the state.

"I can't imagine, judge, that you could trust him to comply with the court orders now given what has happened in the past," assistant Iowa attorney general Scott Brown said.

"Our position is you can't trust Mr. Pierce to comply with the no-contact order. He has promised before and he has admitted to violating the orders of the court. We believe he can't be trusted to go to California," where one pre-draft camp is held.

Prosecutors submitted evidence earlier this week that indicated Pierce tried to call a woman he describes as a former girlfriend 158 times on a cell phone taken March 29 from an Iowa City bar and another 81 times on a phone taken April 7 from another Iowa City tavern.

Pierce's lawyer, Alfredo Parrish, said his client admitted to making a substantial number of the 239 calls.

Pierce acknowledged in court that he violated the no-contact order and tried to keep the woman from knowing who was making the calls by using a "*67" code on the phone to block caller-ID functions.

Previously, Pierce had violated a no-contact order, issued in January, with 84 calls to the alleged victim's cell phone during a 17-hour period on March 25. Those calls were also made on a stolen or lost cell phone, prosecutors said.

Hulse issued a second no-contact order against Pierce after learning about the original 84 calls to the woman.

The order subjected Pierce to criminal sanctions if violated.

What's the matter with this judge? Is he smoking crack? Somebody make Judge Hulse pee in a cup.

If Pierce is convicted of any of these charges, he's going away for a few years. That's for sure. What NBA team would want him then?

Mission Vengeance

This story from Radio Iowa seemed odd without any background:

Two brothers convicted of killing a Waterloo woman last year are going to prison for the rest of their lives.

Racardious and Christopher Spates of Waterloo received the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder in Black Hawk County District Court yesterday. Last month, a jury found the brothers guilty for their role in the fatal shooting of Thyanna [Parsons] at an after-hours party. The shooting occurred last October.

Three sets of Waterloo brothers were charged with murder in the crime. Damean Spates and Dorondis Cooper have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Their sentencing was also scheduled for yesterday, but was postponed. The murder trial for the other brothers -- Joseph and Shawn Washington -- is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

Six people charged with the murder of one person? That seemed unusual until you read this Waterloo Courier story from March:

The men were part of a caravan of sport utility vehicles that was on a "mission vengeance" after a brutal fight that broke out at a nearby nightclub a few hours earlier, Ferguson said.

The night started with a University of Northern Iowa homecoming party at Club Crystyles on Logan Avenue.

A fight broke out between two women, and Parsons stepped in to stop it when the altercation carried over into the parking lot, Sanders said.

Parsons and her friends then left for the afterset at 130 Harrison St.

But back at the nightclub, a series of other fights --- involving men --- started, Ferguson said. The battles pitted Racardious Spates, Cooper, Londrell "Jermell" Cooper, Naiquondis "Pooh" Spates, Joseph Washington and Antwon "Tony Mo" Graham against Sylvester "Vester" Gates, Aundrey "Yak" Roberts and Dartavious "Dart" Farmer.

People from the Spates group fled for a Chevrolet Suburban, and a mob followed, breaking out windows.

At least three people were bleeding as a result of the fight, Ferguson said. Another had teeth knocked out. Parts of a baseball bat were recovered. Half was found in the Suburban and half was in the nightclub parking lot.

Ferguson said the group went to Racardious Spates' home at 520 Elm St. where he retrieved the SKS rifle he bought from Ackerman sometime earlier.

Racardious Spates shot off a few rounds nearby, and everyone relocated to side-by-side houses at 208 and 210 Independence Ave. where Damean and Naiquondis Spates live. There, Damean Spates called Ackerman and told him to bring a gun.

Ackerman showed up with a .32-caliber handgun, the caravan left a short time later.

Ackerman's Chevrolet Tahoe was in the lead with Racardious and Damean Spates, Cooper, Joe Washington and the SKS rifle inside.

They were followed by Chris Spates' Yukon Dehali, and Shawn Washington soon hooked up with them in his mother's Toyota 4 Runner, Ferguson said. Inside that were Isaac Kid and Maurice Washington, Ferguson said.

They drove up East Fourth Street looking for people involved in the nightclub fight, Ferguson said. They checked a park and then rolled past the afterset party. After a quick rendezvous in the Hickory House parking lot, they parked in the area of Argyle Street and Oak Avenue.

The group cut through yards and staked out 130 Harrison St. from a vacant lot across the street and next to 137 Harrison.

Witnesses will testify Racardious Spates had the SKS rifle, Christopher Spates was armed with a 20-gauge shotgun and Shawn Washington had a 9 mm pistol, Ferguson said. He said Joseph Washington stayed behind near a fence, and Ackerman waited in his vehicle.

Ferguson said some witnesses will say the shooting started from the 137 side of the street and others will say it was from the 130 side.

He said police found eight .380-caliber shell casing from the side yard of 130 Harrison St.

From the 137 side, they found 11 casings from the SKS, four shotgun shells, six .32-caliber casings and three 9 mm casings.

So we have two black males (obviously) going to prison for the rest of their lives for murder and four more possibly on the way.

Here's what some pinhead editorial writer at the Des Moines Register wrote about minorities in Iowa prisons back on December 30, 2000, via NewsBank:

Drugs, harsh criminal penalties and higher poverty rates are often cited as reasons so many African-Americans are behind bars. They are factors. They do not, however, fully explain why the incarceration rate in state prisons is so much higher for African-Americans in Iowa compared to whites in Iowa and compared to African-Americans nationwide.

Racial discrimination is surely at work, however subtle and hard to prove. White Iowans like to think of themselves as tolerant neighborliness is a point of pride. But there must also be some sense of shame when so many African-Americans are locked up in Iowa's state prisons.

The people running the Register have some sort of wacky obsession concerning "white guilt" when the reality is that minorities choose to commit criminal acts that have nothing to do with drugs, poverty, or Federal spending. Rekha Basu, in particular, is perhaps the most afflicted with this mental derangement when it comes to race issues.

Davenport Diocese Rehires Child Porn Downloading Priest

What is the matter with the Feds?

From the Quad City Times:

A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Davenport — recently released from federal prison for possession of child pornography on a diocese-owned laptop — has been rehired by the diocese for janitorial work at its headquarters.

Diocese leaders decided to employ the Rev. Richard Poster, 40, in the maintenance department of its Pastoral Center, 2706 N. Gaines St., as they await a decision from the Vatican about a request to remove him from the priesthood, spokesman David Montgomery said.

“(Poster) has direct supervision without contact with children and without access to computers,” Montgomery said in a written statement...

Diocese employees found the pornographic images depicting boys or adolescent males engaging in sex acts on Poster’s diocese-owned laptop computer in December 2002 and turned the computer in to police. At the time, Poster served as director of liturgy for the diocese and was an associate publisher of its newspaper, the Catholic Messenger.

Poster's listing in the Iowa Sex Offender Registry is here.

You probably read the above and wonder why we didn't say "What is the matter with the Catholic Church?" - well, guess who approved of the Father being hired back by the Davenport Diocese (from the Iowa City Press-Citizen):

The hiring was approved by federal probation officers and meets conditions of his three-year supervised release that he be employed, Montgomery said.

And that's not all with the Davenport Diocese. Check out this story from the Des Moines Register:

The Rev. Drake Shafer, the former vicar general of the Davenport Diocese, wants to work as a priest again after settling a civil lawsuit involving sexual abuse of a teenage boy in the 1970s, said his lawyer.

Shafer was second-in-command in the diocese until he was suspended three years ago when a West Burlington man sued him and the diocese. The diocese settled with the unnamed man last fall and Shafer settled this month, agreeing to pay the man's mental health costs.

In a 2002 e-mail to the man that was made public in a court hearing, Schafer apologized and said the incident was an isolated transgression in his priesthood. He acknowledged getting drunk on the night in question, that he didn't intend to hurt the boy, and that he was himself abused as a child by a priest...

Roxanne Conlin, who represented Shafer's accuser in the lawsuit, said she was outraged by the thought that Shafer might return to the ministry.

"How they can square Shafer returning to the priesthood with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' zero tolerance policy is a mystery to me," Conlin said. "That doesn't mean priests get one free grope."

What do you want to bet that the Davenport Diocese hires Shafer back?

""Most people still believe that even with new ownership that this plant out here will still go away"

That pretty much sums up the feeling of Maytag in general, especially after the recent announcement that it is being sold to a private investment group.

More at the Register.

You can see why Maytag might be an attractive buy. They own a lot of brand names and manufacture a staggering amount of products, but South Korean and Mexican imports are squeezing profit margins.

One thing you usually don't see when going out to a web site like Sears or Best Buy is where the appliance is manufactured, but you can definitely Sort By Price.

It's just a matter of time before Maytag pulls out of Newton and Amana becomes a brand name manufactured by the Chinese. No amount of corporate welfare will help stop that runaway train.

Update: Chad at Tusk & Talon has similar thoughts.

Senator Hypocrite, Part 2

Tom Harkin finally came out and said it. From Radio Iowa:

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is blasting a proposal by the republicans in the majority that would stop minority democrats from filibustering judicial nominations.

...The filibuster allows the minority party to continuously debate to block a vote on a nominee, unless there are 60 votes to end the debate. Harkin says the so-called "nuclear option" would do away with the minority's ability to block judges.

He says, "That will be the end of the Senate as we know it. It will be the end of a Senate where minority rights are protected. And that's what this nuclear option is all about. It is a brazen power grab. By destroying the minority's right to extended debate, nothing will stand in the way of republicans seizing absolute power and unchecked control of all three branches of government. It is the beginning of a trail to tyranny."

We've been waiting for Harkin to utter these words.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

On January 5, 1995, in the Congressional Record, Harkin said this about abolishing the filibuster:

I think, Mr. President, that it is important or at least noteworthy, let me put it that way, it is noteworthy that the first vote of this new Congress in the Senate will be a vote on whether we slay this dinosaur called a filibuster. It will be our first vote. It will take place at 11:30, a little over an hour from now. Will we heed what the voters have said, that they want this place to change? That they want us to be more productive. Or is it going to be `business as usual?' Stick with a filibuster.

You know the very word `filibuster' conjures up images of the past, horses and buggies, outdoor privies, lamplighters. The very word itself conjures up the 18th and 19th century. So, the first vote of this session, are we for change? Or are we for the status quo? Did we get the message in the election? Or are we going to give the American people more of the same of what they had over the last several years?

Senators hold the key to gridlock. One hundred Senators here at 11:30 hold the key to gridlock. Now is a chance to use this key to open the door to fresh ideas and to a new approach.

I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, this could be one of the most productive sessions of the Senate in recent history. I may not agree with everything that Republicans are proposing, but they are in the majority and they ought to have the right to have us vote on the merits of what they propose.

Now, as a member of the minority I ought to have the right to debate. I have the unrestrained right of amendment; Nongermane amendments. You will hear a lot of talk about we do not want this body to become like the House. No, I do not either. You will hear about protections for minorities. And for small States and things like that. Those protections are written into the Constitution of the United States and cannot be taken away but by constitutional amendment. We have the right of unfettered debate in the Senate. We have the right to amend with nongermane amendments. We do not have a rules committee that tells us what we can offer and what we cannot offer. This gives the protections to the minority. And, yes, the right to slow things down. I want that right as a minority. I want to be able to slow down things if I think they are going too fast or going in the wrong direction. But, I do not believe that I as a member of the minority ought to have the right to absolutely stop something because I think it is wrong, that that is rule by minority.

Well, I just say if we do not use this key that we have, this key to open the door to get rid of the filibuster, if we do not, I can assure Senators and I can assure the American public that this trend in the use of filibuster is going to continue. This line next time will be even higher. I can assure you that will happen unless we get rid of the filibuster. If we maintain the filibuster, the American people will look to the Senate and say `We elected a bunch of new Senators but `business as usual.'

Maybe I might just give a fair warning to my friends on the other side of the aisle. I think the American people were fed up with the way this place was operating. If they see it as `business as usual' and we continue this filibuster, my fair warning to my friends on the other side, 2 years from now it could be the other way around.

It's difficult to link directly to the section since the Congressional Record web site churns out temp pages during search queries. But you can find it by first going here, then querying in the words dinosaur and filibuster and then selecting Tom Harkin's name from a list of senators before searching. On the page generated, click on the link for January 5th called AMENDING PARAGRAPH 2 OF RULE XXV. Once that page loads, click printer friendly display, do a find of dinosaur, and you'll see it.

You'll also notice that on January 4, 1995, Harkin said this in the Congressional Record:

Well, slaying the filibuster dinosaur--and that is what I call it, a dinosaur, a relic of the ancient past--slaying the filibuster dinosaur has also been endorsed by papers around the country, including the New York Times, which just editorialized on this last Sunday; the USA Today; the Washington Post; the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; in my own State, the Des Moines Register, the Cedar [Rapids] Gazette, the Quad-City Times, and the Council Bluffs Non-Pareil.

And what did the Des Moines Register Editorial Board say on April 22, 2005?

Republican leaders should think hard before trashing traditions that have made the U.S. Senate a unique legislative body. The Senate was designed to be the more deliberative of the two chambers, and every senator is equally empowered by Byzantine Senate canon to resist majority domination. Busting the filibuster would destroy that...

It was wrong for Republicans to deny Democratic presidents' appointments a vote by the full Senate. It is wrong for the Democrats to do it to a Republican president now.

President Bush has contributed to this standoff by ignoring the tradition of consulting with home-state senators on judicial appointments and picking fights by making highly controversial choices for the bench. When this president who talked of being a "uniter" sent back 10 nominees blocked in the last Congress, the Democrats were understandably incensed.

What should happen? Both parties should admit that they have contributed to the problem and cut a deal in which the White House delivers nominees that members of both parties can support. Then the Senate should give each of them a fair, fast and final hearing - and an up-or-down vote.

So at one time the Register was in favor of "trashing tradition" - but now they're not. Or are. Sort-of.

Plogress

We like to track certain politicians to find out how they're screwing us what they're doing. There's numerous ways to do this: Google News Alerts, the crappy legislation tracker offered by the State Of Iowa, and now there's Plogress.

Here's the Plogress page for Iowa's senators and representatives.

Discovering legislation like this and this and this and this and this should keep the guys at Roth & Company addicted to caffeine and overtime.

Flight 11 Over Iowa, 1962

Continental Airlines Flight 11, taking off from Chicago on May 22, 1962, en route to Kansas City, was the first case involving the sabotage of a commercial airliner by bombing.

And it happened over Iowa.

From a rambling and somewhat not-fact-checked-enough two-part piece (part one, part two) published in the Centerville Daily Iowegian this past week:

Flight 11 took off at O'Hare Airport at 8:35 p.m. At 9 p.m., Flight 11 contacted the Flight Following Radar site in Waverly, Iowa, and requested information regarding a storm lying across the airplane's flight path. The pilot, Captain Fred Gray, elected to pass north of the storm cell. At 9:14 p.m. the ground controllers in Waverly observed the aircraft's disappearance from the radarscope.

...Air controllers in Waverly and Kansas City tried to establish contact with Flight 11 officials at Continental Airlines headquarters in Denver, Colo., and federal aviation officials in Washington, D.C., were also immediately notified.

Before long, word leaked to the national media that a [plane] was missing over the Heartland. Hordes of reporters and television crews would soon flock to the regional for what they believed would be a tragic headline story, causing major problems for law enforcement officials from Iowa and Missouri.

From an area between Ottumwa and Bloomfield, stretching southwest toward Missouri, searchers were soon finding a trail of debris. An eight-foot piece of the tail section of the plane landed near a Cincinnati school; a spoon and knife from the plane was found on a Cincinnati street.

The bulk of the plane was found near Unionville, MO.

The author of this story mistakenly calls the plane a Boeing 747. It was actually a Boeing 707. The 747 wasn't delivered until 1970.

If you Google around you'll find little else about Continental Flight 11 on the internet. There's practically nothing on Thomas G. Doty, the bomber. Was there even a book written about this event?

Update: More detail in this April 20, 2005 Daily Iowegian story by Dan Ehl.

Burlington Library Construction Web Cam

The Burlington Hawk Eye newspaper has a web cam (Quicktime MOV format) showing the construction site of the new library. The view is east towards the Mississippi River. Good quality!

Sequelae - Skorton Speaks

UI Prez David Skorton spoke before the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works today concerning the terrorist activity by fascist vegetarians at the Seashore Hall and Spence Laboratories research facilities last November. Text here. Amazingly, he manages to use the Latin term sequelae in his address. That's about what you'd expect from a guy who lives in a house that was recently renovated for three million buckaronis.

Leana Stormont, the vegetarian animal rights crusader and leader of the so-called Iowa Law Student Animal Defense Fund, became a media darling and busy op-ed writer in the weeks and months following the criminal activity. That may be, but we won the Google battle.

Cheap Gas AND Maps To It

Gas Buddy and Google Maps got married on this web site.

You can search for All Iowa, Des Moines, or Quad Cities to check regular unleaded and diesel prices.

Right now, Murphy USA in Cedar Rapids has gas for $1.81 a gallon. Several stations in Council Bluffs have it for $1.83. Or you can drive to the BP at Penn & Jeff in Ottumwa and pay $1.96. The choice is yours.

The diesel option doesn't seem to be working properly on the married site. Gas Buddy is currently showing $2.03 a gallon for diesel at the Flying J at I-80/I-35 Exit 125.

250 More Phone Calls By Pierre Pierce

From the Des Moines Register this morning:

Prosecutors said today that Pierre Pierce made nearly 250 more phone calls than previously reported to his former girlfriend in violation of a no-contact order, and asked a judge to require the former Iowa basketball player to post bond to stay out of jail...

District Judge Gregory Hulse imposed new bond restrictions on Pierce last month, ordering him to wear a monitoring device and setting a curfew. At the time, Pierce acknowledged calling the woman more than 80 times in late March with a cell phone he had not been given permission to use.

Since then, the attorney general’s office said it found that Pierce had called the woman at least 239 more times with cell phones he picked up at Iowa City bars. Prosecutors asked that he be ordered to remain in Iowa and post ‘‘a significant cash bond’’ to ensure that he appears in court.

How about throwing this obsessed lunatic in jail until the trial? It would solve a lot of current problems. Maybe even some future legal trouble for Pierce, especially if he continues with this reckless and illegal behavior.

Related: Random Mentality has some questions regarding the Pierre Pierce case

Quad City Times Prints Chain Letters + New MoveOn.org Chain Letter Campaign

Back on April 25th we mentioned several Iowa newspapers that had been printing Chain Letters To The Editor. One of them was the Quad City Times, which printed a letter by Larry C. Keyes on Davenport.

It's hard to believe, but the Quad City Times printed a recycled version of the MoveOn.org chain letter by Nathaniel Jones of Davenport in today's paper (second letter). Notice how Jones got wise and changed the judge's name to just "Janice Brown" rather than the misspelled "Janice Rodgers Brown" that we mentioned in guffaws at the time.

By the way, the MoveOn.org Cult has a new chain letter campaign for their sheeple to participate in. It's called Stop Intimidating Judges, the title of which is perhaps unintentially ironic.

Surprisingly, they got Bill Frist's name spelled correctly.

Medical Marijuana In Iowa

George Pappas of Iowa City has a powerful letter in this morning's Des Moines Register:

Marc Hansen's May 3 column on the debate over the medical use of cannabis outlined clearly something most Iowa lawmakers fail to understand: This issue has nothing to do with children ("Human Suffering Gets Lost in Medical Marijuana Debate").

Iowa Sen. Keith Kreiman will tell you we need to protect children by denying cannabis to dying patients. The problem is there is no justification for that position.

The research that has come back from states that permit the medical use of cannabis overwhelmingly shows no increase in the teenage use of the plant. And the belief that providing medication to terminal patients will imply that the medication is OK for kids to use for fun is inherently flawed.

Does our culture condone child use of morphine or cocaine (both legal for doctors to prescribe) or Xanax or Valium or any of the numerous prescription meds to which we are exposed? Of course not.

No state has ever voted down a medical-cannabis initiative. No public-opinion poll of which I am aware (I've looked at quite a few) shows less than 50 percent support. Iowa recognizes the medical value of cannabis in its own state code, and even the Democrats' party platform has a provision of support.

Being opposed to medical use of cannabis doesn't mean you're protecting children. It means you support pain, suffering and jail for friends and family who suffer from cancer, HIV/AIDS, chronic pain or any other condition for which cannabis has been proven medically effective.

Why does medical marijuana make so many politicians uncomfortable? It's far less harmful than any Schedule II drug, and certainly less addictive than Schedule IV drugs like Xanax or Valium. (See the DEA Schedule breakdown here)

Beth Wehrman, a BSN and RN from LeClaire, also writes to the Register today:

As a nurse of 32 years, I've had many opportunities to witness the utility of marijuana for the sick. From chemotherapy to AIDS, smoking pot worked when Marinol and other prescription meds didn't.

There's a disconnect in Des Moines. Discussion is squelched, and discussers are labeled. What's to be afraid of? We should fear those so concerned about appearances or re-election efforts that they refuse to explore possibilities.

The Ottumwa Courier, back in early February, had a long article on the issue. Buried deep in the piece are two quotes worth throwing back:

[David Miller, R-Fairfield] said he is not surprised the issue was brought forward by a legislator from one of Iowa's larger cities. He said Iowa City has a constituency that is probably more open to medical marijuana than most of the state.

"It doesn't surprise me that a bill like that is being introduced from Iowa City," he said.

[Keith Kreiman, D-Bloomfield] said passage of a medical marijuana law sends mixed messages to children.

"We tell our children 'don't smoke, don't do other drugs,'" he said. "All the kids are going to see is 'this must not be a very harmful or dangerous drug.'"

Miller should watch it. Stereotyping Iowa City as a town full of pot smokers is a bad road to go down considering Miller represents Fairfield, which is a town full of hippie yogic flyers.



Related: Senator Bolkcom's New Bills

We've Got Klowns And Vacuum Cleaners

In the beginning of this story in the Register concerning a million dollar gift to the Des Moines Art Center, reporter Amanda Pierre says:

The Des Moines Art Center was awarded $1 million today by an independent foundation for its efforts to bring more people into the world of Picasso, Pollock and others.

Those are the wrong two artists to mention in this story considering that the Des Moines Art Center doesn't contain any works by Pablo Picasso or Jackson Pollock. See for yourself.

The closest they have to a Pollock is a 1953 painting by Mrs Pollock, Lee Krasner.

The Des Moines Art Center does have a wide assortment of vacuum cleaners, klowns, a scary-ass horror Pope, some extras from Night Of The Living Dead, a whole bunch of candles, a tormented self-portrait, an Energie Plan, the Blind Leading The Blind, some illegally dumped car parts, and, of course, a gigantic conch shell.

And whatever this is:

UI Offers Class On Pornography

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Jay Clarkson has had no trouble getting students at the University of Iowa to sign up for his fall class examining pornography in popular culture.

One person who isn't a fan, however, is Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants, who is questioning whether tax dollars should be spent on the elective class.

“Do they know that we're not done with their budget yet?” Rants, R-Sioux City, said. “I'm pretty sure we don't need to increase state funding by $40 million to teach critical pornography studies.”

The Legislature is still wrangling with an education budget.

Clarkson, a graduate student, says students seeking a cheap thrill should look elsewhere.

“There are probably some students who will be titillated by the title,” he said. “They will be disappointed.”

Found it!

The course didn't have a very sexy title: 036:090:001 Topics in Communication Studies:

Critical Pornography Studies - This course critically examines the “most popular and enduring of all film and video genres;” pornography. The conventions of pornography have saturated all popular cultural forms and should be considered outside of the oft-maligned Adult supermarket. We will focus on the growing body of critical analyses of pornography as cultural form, the rapidly expanding use of the conventions of pornography in popular culture, tendency, and the current political, moral and institutional debates about pornography. This class is not a how to make or enjoy pornography. This course will be taught primarily as a seminar, thus we should anticipate a rigorous semester where students will be required to read, discuss, and actually think about the contemporary debate on pornography. We will accomplish the following goals: Question common assumptions about the function of pornography as a cultural form; Examine the ways in which media makers from the advertising industry to half-time performers have incorporated elements of pornography; Evaluate political and social debates over the definition and power of obscenity and pornography; and Outline the dominant schools in the emerging porn studies literature.

Special Permission Code D will be removed four working days after Early Registration. Restricted to majors during Early Registration

Prerequisites: 2.50 cumulative gpa and 036:001

Is this the same Christopher Rants who thought it was OK to eliminate state income taxes on people under 30 years of age?

Is this the same Christopher Rants who, when opposing an increase in the cigarette tax, said "Somebody's got to defend the taxpayer in this state."?

Is this the same Christopher Rants who said that taking $500 million in taxpayer money over the next 10 years and giving it away as corporate welfare in order to bribe businesses to come or stay in Iowa was "fiscally prudent"?

Is this the same Christopher Rants who is in favor of keeping the car-title loansharks in Iowa so they can charge an APR of up to 360% because "For some people, this might be the only place people can go to get cash."?

Just remember, Rants, this is not a how-to-make pornography class. We already know how to do this.

Vilsack: Parents Are The Problem

From the Des Moines Register:

Vilsack, at a Washington hearing on high school reform, said it's parents — not the kids, not the teachers, not the schools — that in many cases are the problem when it comes to a more rigorous high school education.

"Parents are reluctant to have students take more rigorous courses," said Vilsack, even as the nation faces a shortage of people with doctorates in math and science, compared to Asian schools.

Parents often are concerned that tough high school schedule will
create conflicts with part-time jobs or with sports, said Vilsack.

They also appear to be worried that lower grades in harder classes will have an effect on their kids' grade point averages and thus on their ability to nail down scholarships, Vilsack said. He said he was basing his conclusions on findings by state Department of Education officials traveling around the state.

Spoken like a true elitist douchebag.

What Is Stewart Iverson On?

That's the only way to explain Iverson's absurd rantings in the Des Moines Register this morning:

The clamor for more Iowa gambling grew louder Monday with Senate Republican leader Stewart Iverson proposing that riverboat casino projects be permitted in Fort Dodge, Ottumwa and Franklin County.

Iverson, of Dows, suggested that regulators should allow up to seven casinos - one for each county where voters have approved ballot proposals in the past two years to permit casino gambling.

"I am not a big pro-gambling individual, but I see nothing wrong with letting all seven counties have gambling," Iverson said. "I guess I am not afraid of competition. Let them all have it. We have gambling in Iowa. What difference does it make? I don't see why we have to protect one casino from competition."

What is the deal with the Republican leadership in the Iowa Legislature? Are they all on drugs? Have they completely lost their minds? Why do they all act like they have their heads permanently rammed up their ass?

Poker Is Not Bona Fide In Iowa

Ulysses Everett McGill: I am the only daddy you got! I'm the damn paterfamilias!

Wharvey Gal: But you ain't bona fide!

From the Waterloo Courier:

As Iowa prepares for an influx of new casino development, lawmakers earlier this month made it illegal to hold sponsored, organized poker tournaments around the state.

New legislation passed May 4 by Gov. Tom Vilsack will make organized poker tournaments illegal beginning July 1.

The bill, which amends current legislation already contained within the Iowa Code, was written to clarify existing laws against organized gambling in places like bars and social clubs. Current law, state officials said, was ambiguous enough that such events were allowed due to differing interpretations of the law.

"What this does is clarify that a Texas Hold'em tournament, or any other kind of poker tournament, is not legal," said David Werning, spokesman for the Department of Inspections and Appeals. "It removes all doubt."

The current legislation deals with "bona fide contests," which are legal in the state of Iowa. The laws legitimize games like cribbage, dominos, pinochle and "similar contests." Poker tournaments are not mentioned.

The amended subsection specifically states that poker, blackjack, craps, keno and roulette cannot be considered "bona fide" contests.

Here it is: HF 646.

There's more:

The new legislation will not affect establishments that hold a social-gaming license, which permits games between friends and acquaintances in public places. But regulations in the Iowa Code demand that such games conform to stated rules. Players must have a pre-existing social relationship, no entry fee can be required, and only $50 may be won or lost within a 24-hour period.

So while it's still legal to play small-stakes, penny-ante poker among friends at places holding these licenses, officials said, open tournaments with winnings over $50 are illegal. The amended subsection will also not affect games between friends and acquaintances, but only leagues, contests and tournaments.

Whew!

Commission? That's Better Than Getting Paid.

We haven't checked in with Cedar Rapids in a while. This is mostly because their local newspaper, The Gazette, is closed to all but subscribers. Thanks to NewsBank, we have search capabilities that lag 24 hours behind.

In Sunday's paper, two former mayors duke it out in columns concerning a ballot initiative concerning changing the form of government from commission to some kind of Council-Manager-Ward type.

Don Canney, the mayor from 1969-1992, is opposed to the change. Lee Clancey, the Al Gore-endorsing Republican who was mayor from 1996-2002, favors the change. Clancey's on the correct side this time.

The commission form of government got started in Galveston, TX, in 1901 after the city was wiped out by a hurricane. Des Moines was the first city outside of Texas to adopt it, and Cedar Rapids switched over in 1908. Des Moines switched to a City Manager system in 1945 and later evolved it into a Council-Manager-Ward system in 1968. Even Galveston switched to a City Manager-based city government in 1960. Very few larger cities still have the commission government with Portland, OR, being the only city larger than Cedar Rapids with it.

Essentially what you have in Cedar Rapids is five highly-paid-but-elected city managers of certain departments and a weak mayor. It's a fairly expensive and non-representative form of government.

The Council-Manager-Ward system is probably as good as it gets when it comes to medium-sized cities. In Des Moines if you have a problem in your neighborhood on the west side you can call or email Christine Hensley and she'll deal with it. Or not. If you think she stinks you can run against her or as an at-large member. In a city with a commission form of government if you don't have any area of expertise like finance, public safety, or streets, you're pretty much up the creek because nobody will take you seriously as a challenger and there are no at-large positions other than mayor.

Celebrate The Grape And Interstate Commerce

Random points to discussion concerning the latest 5-4 SCOTUS ruling which will now allow people in all 50 states to order wine and have it shipped to their state.

Iowa was one of the few states that has allowed inter-state shipping of wine. The change was passed back in 1996. Iowa Code 123.187 has been amended a couple of times since then, but the main intent has remained.

This may eventually be a nice boost in business for the small number of wineries within Iowa.

Now if the SCOTUS could just resolve the first cousin marriage thing.

Representative Steve King, Crossing The Retard Borderline

Steve King has to be retarded.

What else could explain the disaster that came out of his mouth following the Newsweek Lied, People Died story being exposed?

From Radio Iowa:

Iowa Congressman Steve King says "Newsweek" magazine showed a bias in printing an unsubstantiated report that claimed the Islamic holy book, the Quran, had been desecrated. The reported prompted deadly riots in Afghanistan.

He says, "It was something that they've now admitted wasn't a fact. They couldn't substantiate it as a fact. They were willing to accept it as a fact and I believe the reason is that they wanted it to be true. I've seen the pattern too many other times to think otherwise. They will have to come clean with this, and there will be a price to pay. It's part of the credibility of the mainstream media.'

King, a republican from Kiron, says he doesn't blame the deaths caused by the rioting on Newsweek. He says, "But I do say they have a responsibility to the truth, and they should be looking for people on their editorial board that better reflect the vision of America rather than the elitist liberal view that seems to be on the editorial board of Newsweek."

King says the Newsweek situation furthers recent problems in the media. He says, "There's a certain pattern that exists in some of the mainstream media that lended itself to the reporter for the New York Times being fired from his job because of fabrication, to Dan Rather being pushed out of his job because of him being to eager to believe something that he wanted to believe. And now this article that has by some measurement cost the lives of 15 people in the streets of the Arab world."

What's Arab about Afghanistan? According to the CIA factbook, ethnic groups Afghanistan are: Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%. Religions are: Sunni Muslim 80%, Shi'a Muslim 19%, other 1%. Maybe he means the Muslim world.

And King doesn't blame the 15 deaths due to rioting in the aftermath of Newsweak's publication of a fake story on Newsweak? Huh??? Michael Isikoff and John Barry and the editors of Newsweak should be partially responsible for these deaths! Newsweak lied, people died!

Was everybody's BS detectors broken after the original story was printed? Have you seen how big the Koran is? 465 pages! Most people are lucky to get two handfuls of toilet paper in the tank before flushing has to commence for fear of overflowing in this day and age of government-mandated low flow toilets. How are you going to flush a copy of the Koran without having to call Roto-Rooter?

And what's with all this "elitist liberal view" crap? You can be an "elitist liberal" and still print the truth, you know. Right?

Well, sometimes not...

AARP's Marie Smith Lies To Iowans

The head of the AARP, Marie Smith, is lying to Iowans:

Smith spoke at events on Monday in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, and met with reporters as part of a concerted effort to counter President Bush’s national tour to tout his plan to revamp Social Security.

"Despite everything we may have heard, Social Security is not in crisis," Smith said. "It’s not going broke. The trust fund will be large enough to pay 100 percent of promised benefits until 2041..."

Naturally, the Des Moines Register would repeat Marie Smith's lie and not question it because Rekha Basu expressed the same lie in her column a couple of weeks ago.

What's even sadder is that Marie Smith used to work for the Social Security Administration in a series of middle management jobs, so the media will totally eat up whatever she says.

Nevermind what the Social Security Trustees said earlier this year:

It then begins to increase rapidly and first exceeds the income rate in 2018, producing cash-flow deficits thereafter. Despite these cash-flow deficits, beginning in 2018, redemption of trust fund assets will allow continuation of full benefit payments on a timely basis until 2042, when the trust funds will become exhausted. This redemption process will require a flow of cash from the General Fund of the Treasury. Pressures on the Federal Budget will thus emerge well before 2042. Even if a trust fund's assets are exhausted, however, tax income will continue to flow into the fund. Present tax rates would be sufficient to pay 73 percent of scheduled benefits after trust fund exhaustion in 2042.

Redemption of the "trust fund" assets will require either massive amounts of borrowing in the form of higher deficits - robbing Peter to pay Paul, so-to-speak - or considerable tax increases across-the-board. A final option would be an incredible slashing of Federal spending, but you know what will never happen.

What a Ponzi scheme we are being sold.

How come newspaper reporters and editors constantly ignore this? Are they that stupid about economics?

Related: Repeat The Same Lie Over And Over Again And Eventually It Becomes The Truth

Who Will Be Iowa's Magnus Ver Magnusson?

From last Friday's Radio Iowa:

Iowa Games will offer 50-sports at its summer sports festival. Three sports are added to this year's line-up...

New to the summer games is dodgeball... Also being added is a high school football seven-on-seven passing tournament.... The event will also offer a strongman contest and Hallihan says it will be similar to the ones that are shown on ESPN. It involves flipping a 260-pound tire, walking with 200 pounds in each hand, and pulling a vehicle in a certain amount of time.

Here's the Iowa Games web site.

A "strongman" contest can be perceived as a bit of a novelty, but the events within it always demonstate pure brute strength using everyday items. Our favorite was 4-time "World's Strongest Man" winner Magnus Ver Magnusson.

Scott Cawelti's Excellent Column

In the past this blog has repeatedly bashed the hyper-partisan and crazy far-left viewpoints of Waterloo Courier columnist Scott Cawelti, but this week's column is excellent:

When a child gets everything it wants, it becomes a self-centered brat, sure that the world revolves around fulfilling his/her every desire, and they're only happy for a few minutes after getting the latest toy.

I'm growing more and more convinced that the same is true of adults. Too many of us... believe happiness comes from fulfilling every desire. Look at the starter castles that fill our new neighborhoods, with three and four-car garages, multiple huge bedrooms, and I'm sure high-end, luxury kitchens and playrooms.

But it's a dead end, an addiction to gratification, a wants-based culture that delivers happiness only at a price...

Human needs are actually few and simple: Clean air and water, decent food, a bit of exercise, shelter, something to occupy their minds and bodies, socializing, and some sense of contributing to the larger good. That's all we actually need for mental and physical health.

I was reminded of this when I shared dinner last week with two acquaintances who are facing serious health problems. One has a terminal disease and has been told that he has less than a year to live. The other faces serious treatments, but the outcome seems positive. It caused me to question my own wants and needs.

They both agreed that their diseases have forced them to consider their real needs: Close friends, intimate conversations, quiet sharing evenings, simple peace and quiet.

It's also known as The Wake-Up Call.

Perhaps this will change the focus of future Cawelti columns, although we shouldn't hold our breath.

75 Going On 50

The Iowa City Press-Citizen has a story and photo tour of 75 year old Guerin Thompson's workout.

This guy looks fantastic; barely a day over 50, if that. You really ought to look at the photo tour. He's an inspiration for the retired crowd, or at least those who want to stay in shape.

How much is coming from Social Security and welfare payments?

Letter of the year:

In reference to the Register article on May 12, "Quartet of New Casinos Means $40 Million a Year for State," I wonder how much of that $40 million will be coming from Social Security and welfare payments?

-Robert C. Wemer,
Montezuma.

That's a study many people would love to see happen.

Fellow Iraqis?

From Dick Doak in his Register column today:

Some 29 Iowans had died as of last week, and the losses are accelerating. Still, the greatest losses are among Iraqis themselves who are blown up and assassinated by their fellow Iraqis in the most horrific ways.

Are you sure, Dick?

Here's a couple of examples:

Iraqi officials stated that most of the non-Iraqi insurgents were from other Arab countries. However, the New York Times reported that General Rashid Flaiyeh, the head of the police commandos in Salahuddin Province, said the bodies of Filipino men were also among the dead guerrillas. "I was surprised there were men from the Philippines," he said on Iraqiya, a state-run television network. However, he had an explanation for the presence non-Iraqi Arab men. "The Arab countries are sending fighters into Iraq because they want to destroy our democratic movement."

And...

An Iraqi official said the offensive was triggered by local tribal leaders' complaints that about 300 foreign fighters had overtaken the town and were attacking residents who didn't offer them refuge.

"They said, 'We are citizens of Qaim and we are now being attacked by non-Iraqi people coming from Syria. They are shelling us with mortars,'" Bruska Noori Shaways, the deputy Iraqi defense minister, said in an interview with Knight Ridder. "Until this time, they had never asked Iraqi or American forces to help them. It's a good sign."

Hey, What About The Sexual Offender's Feelings?

From the Des Moines Register:

Sex offenders in the Cherokee unit, where about 10 patients are added each year, worry that a public backlash - tougher punishments for offenders are being debated at the Statehouse - will only add to their time behind bars.

"Is it going to contribute to the negativity?" Smith said. "They wonder."

Gee, if only we could return to the days when sex offenders were better understood...

What a weird story. Is the irony lapse intentional?

Rekha Basu Has Run Out Of Things To Bitch About

Good God, I do believe that Rekha Basu has run out of things to bitch about. Her column on Sunday is a mess:

But debates about whether Iowans are inherently racist or big-hearted miss the point. We're not much different from any other group of people. The only thing unique to Iowa is that there are fewer minorities as part of the everyday fabric of life, and that can feed misinformation and stereotypes.

Several Register readers responded angrily to Heidi Schnakenberg's piece about her relatives' racial stereotypes, saying it's not Iowans' fault for being predominantly white.

They didn't need to get worked up. Let's assume that most Iowans are well-intentioned. We still have a problem when we're supposed to be waging war on global terrorism and we can't even come together among ourselves.

Schnackenberg's piece was nothing but racist drivel designed to make White Iowa feel guilty. This, from some stupid broad who can't even figure out where she resides.

I don't know what Rekha is bitching about. Bigotry from morons is universal, but race pimps like Rekha Basu, Heidi Schnackenberg, Jesse Villalobotomy, Wayne Ford, and all the kooks who trekked to Pella for the White Privilege Conference last month seem to think Iowa is some sort of racist state because the European immigrants from the 1800s and early 1900s have assimilated and few blacks or hispanics live here.

Unfortunately, these assholes bring the issue up constantly. By doing so, they offend the perfectly tolerant and understanding white folks in Iowa who have no problem with immigrants so long as they keep their yard clean, don't invite drug dealers into the neighborhood, learn English, pay their taxes, and stay off welfare.

Iowa Prison Search

Remember those losers from high school who you thought would end up in prison here in Iowa?

Now you can verify it with the Iowa Department of Corrections search engine.

You can search solely by age. The oldest offender is 84 years old.

You'd probably think a lot of the older male offenders are serving life sentences for murder. There's a number of those, but a surprising number of older inmates are in for sex abuse charges. And quite a lot of them are offenders who have been convicted in the last few years. Sickening.

Want to search prisons in other states? Go here.

Pitch Yer Solar-Powered Tent

The Register has a story this morning on Iowa Thin Film's recent contract with the Army. It's cool stuff:

Iowa Thin Film Technologies has received a $3.2 million contract from the U.S. Army to supply the military with hundreds of tents that use the company's flexible solar cells to provide electric power.

The Army will use the tents in the Middle East and other locations and provide feedback for modifications, said Michael Coon, Iowa Thin Film's chief operating officer.

Iowa Thin Film makes lightweight solar energy panels called PowerFilm in flexible sheets that are up to 13 inches wide and up to a half-mile long. The roll-to-roll manufacturing process is located just west of Ames.

The largest tent ordered by the Army is a canopy capable of providing up to 2 kilowatts of power. "That's enough to power up to 52 laptop computers or 260 cell or satellite phones" when the sun is shining, Coon said.

A second, smaller tent that is 8 feet by 9 1/2 feet produces enough power for five laptop computers or 24 cell or satellite phones, Coon said.

See for yourself at Iowa Thin Film's web site.

Related: There's A Finite Supply Of Clueless Lefty Newspaper Editors, Too

Buggy Whip's Left-Turn Signal Is Stuck On

Davenport-based Lee Enterprises, which owns amongst its holdings the Quad City Times, Muscatine Journal, Waterloo Courier, and Sioux City Journal, has put in an offer to buy the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

The sale is contingent, in one aspect, upon Lee pledging to keep the paper's liberal bias on the editorial page:

"For a period of at least five years following the Effective Time, Parent (Lee Enterprises) will cause the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to maintain its current name and editorial page platform statement and to maintain its news and editorial headquarters in the City of St. Louis, Missouri," the agreement states.

That's pretty funny. Did some guy in a bow tie write that statement?

The Tom Arnold Scholarships: Happy Endings

From the Indian Hills Community College web site:

IHCC alumnus Tom Arnold awards two full scholarships to IHCC students each year. The scholarships each award full tuition, fees, and book costs for one year. In addition, if you are a student residing in the dormitories, your room and board costs will be included as part of the scholarship award.

To be eligible for the scholarships, you must compose a brief written piece (500-1,000 words) on this year's subject theme, which is "Happy Endings."

An IHCC faculty committee will screen initial entries and Tom Arnold will choose the final selections himself.

*** Entry Deadline for the 2005-2006 Scholarships will be June 2, 2005, at 4:30 pm ***

Happy Endings?

Does Tom Arnold mean this kind of "Happy Ending" as described at UrbanDictionary.com?

Even funnier is the first of the nine guidelines for the scholarship application:

1. You must compose a brief written piece (500-1,000 words) following a subject theme set by Tom Arnold. The theme for the 2005-2006 scholarship entries is "Happy Endings". You should avoid the obscene and exaggerated use of profanities.

This must have been a problem in the past.

Ottumwa's Casino

From the Ottumwa Courier:

Wild Rose Ottumwa got a remarkable vote of confidence Thursday in a bid to get the city's casino application a second chance.

Gov. Tom Vilsack came out in support of re-evaluation of Ottumwa's license.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Mullin said Vilsack supports having the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission review Ottumwa's application a second time.

"He understands that Ottumwa needed the economic boost that a casino license would bring," Mullin said. "He's very disappointed that Ottumwa didn't get [a license]..."

Documents prepared for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission support the contention that Wapello County and Ottumwa residents are spending money at other facilities. The Cummings report estimated that casino spending from Wapello County is equivalent to $107 per adult per year.

All that data is in this 113 page PDF (warning - it's a large file!) which is rather amusingly named cummstudyanal3.pdf.

Is Ottumwa expecting a big boost in tourism from Eldon, Chillicothe, and Agency? (see Google Maps)

We can't imagine who would come to Tom Arnold's home town to visit, other than maybe Tom Arnold when he's doling out his scholarships at Indian Hills Community College.

130,000-square-foot Power Strip

From the Press-Citizen:

A new commercial, retail and office development totaling more than four football fields in space could be up and running by next spring.

The project will be located northeast of Interstate 80 and Highway 965.

Jason Harder, project manager, the joint project of the North Ridge Group and Anderson Investments in North Liberty would include four standalone restaurants, a hotel, an office building and a 130,000-square-foot “power strip” — a strip mall with bigger tenants.

Harder said about one-third of the slots are filled, but declined to release names until contracts are final.

Harder said the slots filled up by word of mouth alone, which was evidence of the demand for this type of development...

Harder said the project should add about $20 million of assessed value onto the tax rolls.

Meanwhile, just down the road, nothing is happening.

Related: The Economy Sucks

Isn't It Ironic?

Chad at Tusk & Talon has an excellent column concerning the Register's ironic take on the United Airlines pension restructuring.

“This is not a good nominee”

Looks like Tom Dorr will probably become next US Agriculture Dept head. Tom Harkin has given up the fight:

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) have apparently agreed to pass USDA Undersecretary Nominee Tom Dorr out of committee for a full Senate confirmation vote. That’s according to Senator Harkin, who says his feelings have not changed about Dorr, also of Iowa.

“This is not a good nominee,” Harkin told reporters Thursday morning. In spite of that, Harkin concedes that he may not be able to block the nomination as he did in 2003. “Probably not, I mean (the Republicans) have a bigger majority here in the Senate,” says Harkin about his chances of blocking the Dorr nomination, “I’m not certain that we can now. Things have changed; Republicans have taken over more seats in the Senate than what we had last time.”

Even though we all think Tom Harkin is a stinking hypocrite, he is probably right to be concerned about Tom Dorr.

Back in February we mentioned the Dorr thing. The Senate's web site's link in that post was temporary and has since expired. But if you go to the November 18, 2003 Executive Session in the Senate and scroll down to S14977, you can view a temporary page which will detail Harkin's main beefs with Door. We'll reprint it here to save you the hassle:

Mr. HARKIN. On another occasion, at a 1999 conference at Iowa State University, Mr. Dorr criticized the State of Iowa for failing to move aggressively toward very large, vertically integrated hog production facilities. The record also shows Mr. Dorr attacking the ISU extension service and harassing the director of the ISU Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Is this really the attitude and the vision for agriculture and rural communities the Under Secretary for Rural Development ought to bring to the job?

The person in that position also must be responsive and sensitive to the demands of serving America's very diverse citizens and communities. That requirement cannot be overemphasized in a department that has been plagued with civil rights abuses of both employees and clients. Here is what Mr. Dorr had to say about ethnic and religious diversity at that Iowa State University Congress; these are Mr. Dorr's own words on the record:

[Comments by Tom Dorr; Transcription of Iowa Tape, 1999] I know this is not at all the correct environment to say this, but I think you ought to perhaps go out and look at what you perceive [are] the three most successful rural economic environments in this state. ..... And you'll notice when you get to looking at them, that they're not particularly diverse, at least not ethnically diverse. They're very diverse in their economic growth, but they have been very focused, have been very non-diverse in their ethnic background and their religious background, and there's something there obviously that has enabled them to succeed and to succeed very well.

That's the extent of Dorr's comments. We didn't improperly edit Dorr's speech in any way and we've provided the pathway for you to look it up. Go to the November 18, 2003 Executive Session in the Senate and scroll down to S14977 to see for yourself. Before this section Dorr's talking about income growth. Immediately following this part of the speech Dorr's talking about the hog industry in Iowa.

What's the difference, really, between what Dorr said in 1999 about rural ethnic and religious diversity and Trent Lott blabbering this at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party: "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

100-150 years ago you had a racially diverse farming community in Iowa (all the European immigrants who spoke different languages and had different religions), but today Dorr's obviously talking about blacks and hispanics. In both the historical and modern-day contexts of being "ethnically diverse" Dorr flunks. Harkin may be a moonbat, but he's got a point here. And it isn't just political correctness. We'd be against Dorr solely because of his love of large hog confinement operations - the same operations that leech pig shit and piss into our rivers and lakes, causing high levels of bacteria that kill fish and keep beaches closed.

How To Eliminate Underage Drinking: Lower The Drinking Age

The Press-Citizen has a story concerning Iowa City's Alcohol Advisory Board that's interesting:

Weeks after the Alcohol Advisory Board presented its progress report, the group is under fire for a lack of response to excessive and underage drinking.

The Iowa City Council will hear comment Monday from groups critical of the board's recent report on the ongoing problem of alcohol abuse in downtown Iowa City.

You should read more about some of the different groups who are critical of this board in this article. These groups seem to be stocked with the usual bunch of Carry Nation types who think the 21-only ordinance, keg registration and support of alternate alcohol-free activities is going to solve the problems of binge and underage drinking in Iowa City.

Of course it doesn't help when the Daily Idiot Editorial Board writes op-eds like this one started out yesterday:

With graduation just around the corner for you seniors, it is time to pause and reflect on the valuable life lessons and cherished knowledge imparted to you during your four (or five or six, but hopefully not seven) years in college.

You learned how to tap a keg. You discovered you could subsist on ramen noodles for days at a time. You figured out how to make it through a Tuesday with a crippling hangover.

Gee, and we wonder why Iowa City has such a bad reputation.

Most of these problems could be eliminated tomorrow by lowering the drinking age to 18 or 19, the way it used to be in the 1970s and early 1980s. Instead, we're living with the legacy of Elizabeth Dole, another tourist carpetbagger who screwed her way into the Senate thanks to Viagra.

Call me reckless, but I believe that legal adults who can get married, divorced, have babies, enter into contracts, join our country's military, drive a car, fly a plane, start a business, and declare bankruptcy, should be able to walk into John's Grocery and walk out with a case of Shiner Bock.

Mountain Lions In Iowa

This is an extremely bad idea:

Cedar Rapids-area residents Wallace Taylor, Pamela Taylor and Elwood Garlock filed a formal petition asking the Iowa Natural Resources Commission to declare mountain lions, or cougars, an endangered species. In its purest form, that designation would mean no one could kill the cougars.

The petitioners told the panel that the lions are making a comeback in Iowa, and protection would help their population rebound.

It doesn't take much effort to discover that Elwood Garlock is one of these Sierra Club nuts members. He's probably just as stupid as Trevor Pasley of Iowa City. And don't forget Random's take on a similar letter writer to the Iowa City Press-Citizen last December.

Senator Tom Hypocrite

From Radio Iowa this morning:

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is calling on the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate what he calls "the continued refusal by oil companies to blend low-priced, domestically-produced ethanol into the nation's gasoline supplies..."

Harkin says consumers could be paying as much as eight-cents a gallon less for gas if oil companies were using corn-based ethanol instead of petroleum-based products. He says oil companies are deliberately keeping oil supplies tight and prices high, even though ethanol supplies are plentiful and have dropped as much as 50-cents a gallon since the beginning of the year...

Harkin says the people deserve to know why oil companies are making record profits while insisting families pay top dollar at the pump when the prices could be cut by using more renewable fuels.

Senator Tom Harkin never mentions that his wife, up until recently, was a director of Conoco and later with the merged ConocoPhillips.

What's ConocoPhillips been doing concerning Ethanol? From CSNews today:

Representatives for ConocoPhillips Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. plan to tell members of the Montana House Agriculture Committee at an upcoming hearing that they oppose a bill that would make it mandatory to offer a motor fuel with a 10 percent ethanol blend, the Billings Gazette reported.

Yes, Ruth Harkin is no longer a director of ConocoPhillips. She's now a tourist member of the Iowa Board Of Regents. Still, Tom Harkin looks stupid rambling about oil companies when his wife probably earned millions working for one.

Some states and municipalities already mandate certain additives for fuels: MTBE, oxygenation, and reformulation in particular. Why not Ethanol? The State 29 Prowler runs just fine on E10 fuel.

Christopher Rants: Bring On The 360% Interest Rates

On Tuesday, we commented on a story from Radio Iowa on debate in the Legislature concerning car-title loans in Iowa and took Willard Jenkins, a Republican from Waterloo, to the woodshed over his attempts to block a bill that the Senate passed 50-0 to reduce APR interest rates on this form of legalized loan-sharking from 360% down to 21%.

The Waterloo Courier has another story yesterday concerning the issue, including this total loser quote by Republican House "leader" Christopher Rants:

House Speaker Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, does not believe more restrictions should be placed on the industry but hasn't decided whether he'll block the measure if it comes to a vote before the House.

"For some people, this might be the only place people can go to get cash," Rants said.

Well, Rants, other than maybe going to Rumplestiltskin or the Mafia (Watch out, or it'll cost ya a nostril... - Ed.), if you're relying on a car-title loan for cash you're basically at the end of the line. What's next? Robbery? Prostitution?

Think about how far down the hole you have to be to resort to such a thing. This means you have no cash, no savings, and nothing in the checking account. You own no stocks, mutual funds, or college savings accounts. You have nothing in your 401K in which to borrow from. You have no IRA in which can take money from for 60 days, penalty-free. You have no mortgage equity to tap. You have no credit cards available. You don't have anything to sell in a garage sale or on Ebay. You don't have anything to pawn. You can't get an advance from your employer. Your welfare is spent. And you have no friends, parents, or children who will loan you money.

That's pretty low.

And Rants, the "leader" of the House Republicans in Iowa, thinks it's OK to charge somebody in that situation the equivalent of 360% APR for a car-title loan! So does Willard Jenkins, who chairs the House Commerce Committee!

It's shameful.

This bill should be brought to a vote in the House, but ultimately the practice should be banned in Iowa.

The Economy Sucks

From the Quad City Times:

Lujack’s Northpark Auto Plaza broke ground Wednesday for a new Lexus building that will be nearly six times larger than its present facility for the Japanese luxury car maker and will bring a stylish commercial use to what once was a debris-filled ravine.

Related: The Green Machine For The Gated Community (Tax Update Blog)

"He's back into his old habit"

Time to lock this guy up and throw away the key. Maybe throw in some of the idiots on the Iowa Board of Parole, as well.

From the Waterloo Courier:

A convicted burglar who walked away from a work-release program three weeks ago is under arrest and a suspect in nearly 30 burglaries.

Brian Latham, 37, of Independence, is charged with five counts of third-degree burglary. Authorities expect several more counts in coming days as investigators review evidence from recent incidents in Oran, Oelwein, Stanley and Westgate...

Latham is also charged with escape from a state facility. He was serving time at the Waterloo Residential Correctional Facility for a lengthy list of felonies, including eight for burglary.

The escape is Latham's fourth attempt. He also fled in 1987, 1989 and 1994, according to Iowa Department of Corrections records.

The state parole board approved Latham for transfer to the work-release program March 2. He arrived at the residential facility April 6 and on April 20 authorities issued an escape warrant for his arrest.

If allegations against Latham prove true, "it would indicate he's back into his old habit," said Clarence Key Jr., executive director of the Iowa Board of Parole.

Key said the board didn't feel comfortable granting Latham full parole. Instead, board members opted for the more structured work-release program.

Three previous escapes, eight felony burglaries, and a lifetime of crooked behavior. Naturally the Parole Board would give Brian Latham one more chance!

There's little information about the Iowa Board of Parole at their web site. The Results Iowa web site for the Parole Board is ridiculously generic. Read this four-page "Performance Report" PDF that surely took thousands of bureaucrat-hours to concoct for chuckles.

"Iowans for Nussle"

From Radio Iowa:

A state Senator who was chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa is now the chairman of "Iowans for Nussle" -- the group assembled to help Congressman Jim Nussle run for governor...

Larson says Nussle, at a very young age, was tapped to be chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee. September 11th happened soon after, and Larson says Nussle helped shepherd the country through the recovery from that attack and the recession...

Larson says he'll help Nussle develop a campaign message. In addition, Larson will focus much of his effort in building a grassroots network of Nussle supporters throughout the state.

What could Nussle's campaign message possibly be?

#1 - I'm all for Family Values, er, I mean "The Value Of Family" - even after my first wife filed for divorced after 10 years of marriage in 1996 and my kids stayed behind in Manchester.

#2 - Before I got married to my second wife, a lobbyist, we had to meet with the House Ethics Committee to get their blessing first. You know, potential conflicts of interest and all that. I learned a lot from Newt Gingrich.

#3 - I'm the chairman of the House Budget Committee and a senior member of Ways And Means, so I know a lot of about how to create huge budget deficits. But that was the fault of September 11, 2001, or the recession, or something like that. How about those tax cuts, people! We should really scrap the tax code and have a flat tax or a national sales tax. Or something. Get me off this stage before I pee my pants.

As for Larson building a grassroots network of Nussle supporters, I thought Nussle already had 60 Statehouse Republicans backing him. Who needs grassroots when you've got a whole bunch of hot air and fertilizer to start with?

I hate to rain on Nussle's parade, but he's got an uphill battle in Iowa. This guy is Jim Ross Asshole II, minus the pilot's license.

It'll be a tough race. Nussle will probably push the death penalty button like you won't believe, but the Democrats have Nussle's record as the Budgetmeister in DC to beat to a pulp.


Related: Iowa Governor Beauty Contest, numerous Ed Fallon posts.

"This is going to be the biggest boost for Waterloo since John Deere came"

Best.

Quote.

Ever.

(Insert "seed" jokes here, pardon the puns - Ed.)

The Rubber Stamp Commission only approved four casinos: Waterloo, Riverside, Emmetsburg, and rural Worth County.

The Waterloo proposal that won is in conjunction with Isle of Capri, and will be located at the non-Waterloo intersection of I-380 and US Highway 20, near Gilbertville. (Google Satellite).

The group wanting to use the mothballed Greyhound Park in Waterloo (Remember when that was going to be the savior of the Waterloo economy in the mid 1980s? - Ed.) was rejected. They were partnered with the Meskwaki tribe, who have had their eye on the facility for over a decade with up to $10 million in-hand. Naturally the commission would want another chance to screw the Indians over while leaving an expensive eyesore all weedy.

Riverside (population 928; Google Satellite) got their casino proposal approved. We're sure Kalona, Hills, and Lone Tree will want casinos next. The point of the Riverside casino is to suck "tourist" money out of cOralville and Iowa Shitty. Or maybe those Amish and Mennonite secretly gamble.

Emmettburg (population 3958, Google Satellite) has Kearney State Park nearby for docking and water. Spencer is 25 miles away, but other than that there's more bodies buried in cemetaries than living in Curlew, Rodman, and Whittemore (Sounds like a shifty law firm to me - Ed.)

Finally, "rural Worth County" got a casino license approved. There's less than 8000 people there and only a couple thousand living in Northwood (Google Satellite), the county seat (If that isn't crying out for government consolidation... - Ed.). What makes Worth County attractive to the commission is I-35 running through it on the way to Albert Lea and the state of Minnesota - a state where expanded casino gambling appears to be dead. And it's just 100 miles and runnin' from Minneapolis.

Expanding Industry In Iowa

The Gurnee Mills outlet mall in Illinois has the first "Not Quite Perfect" McDonald's outlet store, which offers imperfect and irregular items from the menu.

We here at the State 29 Cooperative ™ hope this comes to Iowa soon. We'll certainly need the "Not Quite Perfect" fast-food industry to replace jobs lost if the Iowa Legislature decides to scale back 360% APR car-title loans down to 21%.

Dead Trees Move Slowly

Carlson is five days lagging behind State 29.

Summer Daycare or Year-Round School?

The Register Editorial Board has a column today written, weirdly, in first person. It concerns a summer daycare program based in the Des Moines Public Schools that is currently full.

Why bother with summer daycare in urban districts? We no longer need junior to to work on the farm during the summer. It's time to evolve, people. Put the kids in school year-round with small breaks. Maybe we can speed up education so we can boot most of them to college, trade schools, apprenticeships, or the workforce by age 16.

Car-Title Loans In Iowa

Radio Iowa has a story today about debate in the legislature concerning car-title loans in Iowa. State Senator Bolkcom of Iowa City wants them capped at 21% APR (SF 217) and the Senate apparently passed this measure by a vote of 50-0.

We'd prefer to see the practice outlawed in Iowa. While most cars do have some sort of value, historically they're almost always seen as a rapidly depreciating asset. And there are many other financing options available to, uh, stupidly desperate losers.

Surprisingly, there is at least one member of the Iowa House who thinks 360% APR is just fine and dandy. And he has the power to hold things up:



From the QC Times on April 25th:

Rep. Willard Jenkins, a Waterloo Republican who chairs the House Commerce Committee, disagrees that people in the car title loan business are predatory lenders and said he would not let the legislation be considered in that committee.

Jenkins believes the measure Bolkcom is proposing could wipe out the car title loan industry in Iowa and leave people with fewer lending options.

“It bothers me that we in the Legislature just knock them out,” Jenkins said.

There is no car-title loan industry in Iowa. It's a guy from Georgia who created locations in the past year in Sioux City, Waterloo, Marion, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs and Des Moines.

Fewer lending options? Perhaps we can bring back confiscation of unmarried, first-born, menstruating, virgin daughters as a compromise. Would that be OK, Rep Jenkins?

Location, Location, Location

We here at the State 29 Cooperative ™ are happy that hundreds of thousands of new readers from around the world are discovering this blog on a monthly weekly daily basis. How do so many people get hooked? Search engines!

IDED head and corporate welfare disher Mike Blouin may be interested in running for Governor, but he has a bit of a Google problem.

UBG Financial, the company involved at one time with the Newton Racetrack financing, has problems at AOL here and here, also at Google Greek, and trouble at regular old USA Google.

We're in the Leana Stormont top ten at Google.

And we're happy that certain newspapers are finally using Google to root out those pesky chain letters to the editor.

Perhaps the funniest placement we could find was being #2 in rank behind the TedKennedy.com web site for the misspelling of Janice Rogers Brown's name at Yahoo. How dumb is your staff when you can't fact check a judge's name before putting it all over your web site? At least we know where the Kennedy staffers get their marching orders from.

Welfare For Not Farming In Swamps

It's so blatant:

The Conservation Security Program wants you if you're a landowner in an eligible watershed.

The 2005 CSP sign-up ends May 27 and involves nearly half of Iowa's 99 counties.

"CSP is a whole new direction in USDA conservation programs,'' said Mike Webster, an NRCS wetlands specialist and CSP team leader in northeast Iowa. "CSP is the first time agricultural producers are being paid for doing a good job of conservation. The secretary of agriculture has said the program, 'rewards the best and motivates the rest.' It's my personal opinion that 2007 farm bill will be tied to conservation. If you don't qualify for CSP now, you should be thinking about changes you can make so that you qualify in the future..."

CSP offers three tiers of participation depending on the amount of the farm enrolled and the current level of documented conservation, Webster said. Payments will be made based on this tier level as well as a producer's agreement to do additional practices.

Payments vary depending on land use, the amount of land enrolled, the tier level and enhancements made. One-time payments for new practices can be included in a contract. Payment maximums range from $15,000 to $45,000 annually.

Dear Senators Grassley and Harkin. How can I buy some swamp land in Iowa? I want to learn how to work the system like "bottom feeder" Mark Zieman. Love, State29.

You can read more about CSP here, including links to numerous PDFs with all the details.

Just remember, the same politicians that bitch about the size of the deficit also whine like a stuck pig if you want to cut welfare like this.

Drunk Fetus Problem In Iowa

This is so sad.

The Iowa Legislature can dish out the tax breaks and corporate welfare, but they can't protect a fetus from this:

Davenport officers arrested a pregnant woman on Mother’s Day for child endangerment after her blood-alcohol level tested at more than three times the legal limit to drive, police said in court records.

But Scott County Attorney Bill Davis said he will request that the charge be dropped against Rebecca Mann, 23, of Maquoketa, Iowa, because the case involves a fetus, and not a child. She told officers she is 7½ months pregnant.

“Under Iowa law, a fetus is not a person until it has been separated and been born from the mother and taken a breath independent of the mother, period,” Davis said.

However, Davis said, “I certainly agree with the police officer who made the arrest.”

Mann told officers “she has four other children and drank while she was pregnant with them, and they turned out fine,” police said in court records.

She still faces charges of prostitution and public intoxication from Sunday’s incidents, beginning in the 1000 block of West 3rd Street shortly before 9:30 p.m., police said in court records...

A preliminary breath test measured her blood alcohol content at .256, while the legal limit in Iowa is .08, police said.

23 years old. Four children. Another one the way. Prostitute. Super-drunk.

And Iowa doesn't have a law in place to protect that unborn child.

You know what Iowa needs - the ability to commit this woman until she gives birth, put her in prison, tie her damn tubes, and take those children away. Enough!

The Register's Body Count Fetish

What else is it but a fetish?

Petroski cleverly injects obvious opinion into the news:

Unlike Operation Desert Storm in 1991, which was quick and decisive, there doesn't appear to be any end in sight to the current operation in Iraq, Hamman said. "Who knows how long this is going to go on?"

Related: John Hauptman, Spitting On Iowa Soldiers

"Somebody's got to defend the taxpayer in this state, and that job falls to..."

This piece from Radio Iowa demonstrates that both parties totally suck in Iowa:

The leader of the 51 Republicans in the Iowa House is in no hurry to back down in the state budget debate.

The Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and Democrat Governor Vilsack have agreed to a roughly eight-and-a-half percent increase in next year's state budget.

Republican House Speaker Christopher Rants of Sioux City suggests this may be a long, drawn-out dispute. "No hurry. We're not bound by clock or calendar, so we'll do what we think we need to do," Rants says."

Rants does not intend to allow a vote on an increase in the state cigarette tax, nor does he intend to accept the spending levels outlined by the Senate. "Somebody's got to defend the taxpayer in this state, and that job falls to...51 Republican who serve in the House," Rants says.

Two weeks ago the House endorsed its own state budget outline which calls for a six percent spending increase.

Wow, Rants, I'm totally impressed with you. You're trying to compromise with a 6% increase in the budget versus an 8 1/2% increase by the RATS, the Senate RepubliTARDS and Vilsack. Either way, the taxpayer has to lube up.

Geezus effing christ, is this what Iowa gets with a totally split Legislature? Spending increases that are three or four times the rate of inflation? I want gridlock!

Take your pick voters: Bad or worse? Nazis or Soviets? Dildos or vibrators?

Rants is such a friggin idiot that he thinks the 20-odd percent of people who smoke in Iowa are the only ones paying taxes. Where's the tar and feathers?

Oh, Fallon, please save us.

Can you go Netless?

From the Waterloo Courier's occasionally fact-challenged "Call The Courier" page:

The Courier is looking for people who will attempt to live a week without Internet and keep a journal to share with the Cedar Valley. Can you do it? If your job requires Internet use, that's excusable, but personal Web surfing and e-mailing is not allowed. The experiment will give us an idea of just how much Internet access, or lack thereof, impacts our lives. If interested, contact Stacey Palevsky at (319) 291-1580 or stacey.palevsky@wcfcourier.com.

Maybe one of my 5 million readers every week would like to take part. I'd miss having you as a part of my audience, but I could exploit you just as good as the Courier can.

I can't possibly give up my day job, which is writing this blog, to be a part of this. (They'd probably want exclusive rights - Ed.)

Sure, the $280 million buyout offer by the United Fruitcake Outlet fell through because Bob didn't return my calls, but I have newer ways of earning money. I Pepsi have Doritos ways Burger King of Des Moines Register using Ford subliminal KY Jelly advertising Magnum Larger-Sized Condoms to Hustler Magazine keep Grammy Award-Winners Green Day the Herbal Viagra bills Alpine Tap Room paid.

Iowa Events Center

Last week, Thomas O'Donnell of Urbandale had a letter published in the Des Moines Register:

If I recall correctly, the big goal of the giant carbuncle (i.e., the Iowa Events Center) rising in downtown Des Moines was to give young folks something to do and some reason to stay in Iowa.

So what's the first event to be announced at the fancy arena? A 60-year-old former Beatle who was at his hottest 40 years ago.

My guess is the average age of Paul McCartney concert-goers will be closer to 50 than 25.

So much for keeping the youngsters occupied.

Carbuncle?

Anyway, Mr O'Donnell had a point about the geezers. McCartney will be 63 year old when he plays the $217 million carbuncle in late October. It's sold out, of course, with tickets costing as much as $176. Tom Petty, also expected later this year, will be pushing 55 when he plays. His tickets cost about a dollar for every year he's been around.

What's for the young'ns then? "Grammy Award-winning" Green Day, the millionaire punks from SF who are charging $45/$39.50, will be touring in support of their frankly awful but zillion-selling album American Idiot. The Iowa Events Center has also booked the American Idol rejects for $47/$37, if syrupy lame covers excite you.

And now Tony Hawk, the aging skateboarder, and a bunch of BMX riders. Prices? $86, $66, $41, and $26.

Carbuncle, indeed.

Let The Market Decide.... Except, Except, Except....

Looks like the Des Moines Register has become in favor of "letting the market decide" things in one instance:

The five members of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission face some tough decisions. But they should not make the job tougher than necessary.

The commission must decide which of seven communities will receive riverboat-casino gambling licenses. Besides determining the extent to which gambling will be expanded in Iowa, the commission's decision will have a critical impact on the lives and fortunes of several communities. For some, the prospect of casino gambling could be the single most important economic-development project ever.

After hearing presentations from casino developers and community groups eager to get in on the gambling action, the commission will now decide which of 10 proposals will be approved for gambling licenses. Some members of the commission have hinted they might approve three. Others say they might go as far as five.

The question the commission should answer first: Why not all 10?

Here's the rule of thumb that should guide gambling expansion in Iowa: Once the residents of a county have said at the ballot box they want gambling, the state should not stand in the way - provided applicants seeking licenses meet state standards...

In short: Beyond regulatory concerns of licenseholders' integrity and financial soundness, the commission shouldn't trouble itself with the financial or moral impact of additional casinos.

Meanwhile, over in West Des Moines, the Register got their panties in a bunch because Wal-Mart wanted to lobby each WDM city council member individually concerning the issue of letting the new store by Jordan Creek stay open 24/7.

And don't forget all the other bashing of Wal-Mart by Rekha Basu and Dick Doak.

They sure don't want to let the market decide anything like store hours. That's why all car dealerships in Iowa are closed on Sunday, in honor of the Lord law.

So if a community wants a Wal-Mart, that's not OK. There should be roadblocks, restrictions, and all sorts of chest-butting going on by a vocal-but-tiny minority within the community that would never shop there anyway.

Likewise, if 67% of Iowans want the death penalty, too frickin bad. We're not even going to debate it. But we'll ramrod through a tax break for a race track that was going to be financed by some shady company under the guise of "economic development" for a community that, frankly, is in "deep trouble."

Sigh.

You know why. It's all about the government revenue, baby!

Hmmmm, I wonder how many people working at casinos in Iowa are on Medicaid?

As I said before, I think the Iowa Rubber Stamp Racing and Gaming Commission will approve practically everything that's put before them.

Bankruptcy Of The Year

From the Des Moines Register:

Leonard E. Jr. and Phyllis M. Essick, Carlisle, debts $5,413, assets $3,675.

Those eeeeeeevil credit card companies and those soaring health care costs..... we don't need bankruptcy reform, oh no..... not at all.

Death Penalty Blamed For Higher Tuition In Iowa

The Daily Idiot Editorial Board, a bunch of clueless far lefties who do not reside the real world, are upset about the priorities of the Iowa Legislature when it comes to funding higher education:

We're particularly dismayed that state senators haven't allocated more money to education after hearing about some of their other proposals: talk of reinstating the death penalty in Iowa, which would cost the state millions of dollars, seems to have taken precedent over discussion of how to better fund regent institutions in recent weeks.

I don't get the logic here.

Despite 67% of Iowans wanting reinstatement of the death penalty, gross nicotine addict Gronstal won't allow any debate on the issue, so it's a moot point.

Shouldn't the Idiots use a better argument concerning the lack of funding to the state universities? How about the $12.5 million sales tax break to the Newton Racetrack? How about the plan by the Legislature to spend $500 million over the next ten years for
"fiscally prudent" corporate welfare?

No, no, no, no, no. The editorial board at the Idiot has to pick on the death penalty, a dead issue (pardon the pun), as their whipping boy concerning tuition hikes. Whatever.

Tinker Redux or Sheep To Herd?

Beth Dalbey of the Des Moines Business Record compares the Chandler sisters' anti-abortion t-shirt protest at Roosevelt High School to the Tinker case and finds:

The Chandler sisters were hardly making a spontaneous political statement. They were more like sheep following the herd. Of course, nothing in the Constitution says free speech has to be spontaneous. Indeed, the students in the Tinker case used the same non-violent protest tactics – the wearing of arm bands and fasting – that pacifists before them had adopted. Their protest, too, was planned.

But the students in the Tinker case weren’t part of a highly organized national campaign to get every pro-life teenager in America to wear a black arm band, as the Chandler sisters were. They weren’t handed a primer from the Thomas More Law Center instructing them in ways to deal with harassment they could expect in school. They weren’t instructed in “working the media,” as the American Life League does on its Web site.

Dalbey admits that the Tinker protest was planned. So what's her problem with the Chandler sisters? Dalbey appears to be upset that Tinker provided the legal precedence and the internet has provided a large amount of information and resources from groups to those individuals who are willing to engage in legal, peaceful protest.

If that isn't obnoxious and elitist concerning the First Amendment rights of children, I don't know what is!

There were people who thought the children involved with the Tinker case were sheep following the herd. Here's Justice Hugo Black in his dissent on the Tinker case:

Ordered to refrain from wearing the armbands in school by the elected school officials and the teachers vested with state authority to do so, apparently only seven out of the school system's 18,000 pupils deliberately refused to obey the order. One defying pupil was Paul Tinker, 8 years old, who was in the second grade; another, Hope Tinker, was 11 years old and in the fifth grade; a third member of the Tinker family was 13, in the eighth grade; and a fourth member of the same family was John Tinker, 15 years old, an 11th grade high school pupil. Their father, a Methodist minister without a church, is paid a salary by the American Friends Service Committee. Another student who defied the school order and insisted on wearing an armband in school was Christopher Eckhardt, an 11th grade pupil and a petitioner in this case. His mother is an official in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

You're free to think what you want about those involved with both cases, but you have to be consistent with your views. Tinker is the law and peaceful protest groups are going to disseminate information via the Internet about issues that you may not necessarily agree with. What's wrong with that?

I guess for people like Beth Dalbey the issue of abortion trumps everything else. "Free speech for me, but not for thee" - indeed.

It's hard to believe that it's 2005 and this Beth Dalbey makes a living as the editorial director of a publication writing such nonsense. It just demonstrates how far some corners of the media have yet to evolve.

Mother's Day In Iowa

The Kelly family wrote this to the Mason City Globe Gazette about their mother, Marlys:

Just the thought of giving birth 9 times in 16 years to a total of 100 pounds and 3 ounces of new born babies would send anyone running for the hills.

Bedtime was always a special time in our house. (I'm sure Mom thought so too!) After our bedtime snack we would take turns having the bedtime prayers and stories read in our rooms. Mom would sit on our bed and we would all gather around so we could see the pictures.

We always had an after school treat waiting for us when we got off the bus. She would even get food out at 2 a.m. for us college age kids who had been "up town" on the weekends catching up with friends. And since we mentioned our college days, all nine of us kids have gotten at least a four-year college degree. Just think of all the college laundry she got to do!

She also introduced us to the concept of bonfires. Little did we know at the time, it was a great way to get us to talk about what was going on in our lives and she was a good listener...

One year ago, our Mother had a stroke. We are so very blessed to still have her with us today.

Yes, you are lucky.

Just a reminder... some people may be happy and others may be sad today.

And some... well, I don't know how they get through the day:

And I knew in the end that he just didn't have anything left for the fight. So many times John and I told him that if there was anything we could do to take away his pain we would. We didn't know, or chose not to think about what that promise really meant. I held him as he slipped away, knowing that in place of his pain would be ours forever. And that was the only thing I could do for him as his mother.

The walk in the Quad Cities yesterday was done in honor of a mother who died of complications of preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome back in January. Over 300 people turned out. I hope the QC Times will have a story on it in Monday's paper. There's nothing in Sunday's online edition, which is kind of sad considering that preeclampsia takes the lives of several hundred mothers and over 1250 infants every year in the United States.

2009 Not 2017 Not 2025 Not 2042 Not 2052

Krauthammer writing in Friday's WaPo:

As I have been writing for years with stupefying redundancy -- and obvious lack of success -- this idea is a hoax. There is no trust fund. The past Social Security surpluses were spent the year they were created. The idea that in 2017, when the surpluses disappear, we will be able to go to a box in West Virginia to retrieve the money we need to make up the shortfall (between what Social Security takes in and what it pays out that year) is a deception. There is no money there. It will have to be borrowed or garnered from new taxes.

But things are worse than that. The fiscal problem starts to kick in not in 2017 but in 2009. The Social Security surplus, which Congress happily spends every year, peaks in 2008. Which means that starting in four years (and for every year thereafter) a budgetary squeeze begins, requiring new taxation or new borrowing.

If in 2010 tax revenue and spending remain exactly the same as in 2009, the Treasury will not end up with the same size deficit. It will end up with a larger deficit, because the amount of money it was receiving free and "borrowed" from the Social Security surplus will have shrunk.

That surplus shrinks from its peak in 2008 to zero in 2017 and goes negative after that. That is a very serious fiscal problem that starts not in 50 years, not even in 12 years, but in four.

And Iowa's newspapers still think the problem doesn't start until 2042. Rekha Basu thinks this. The Daily Idiot thinks this. And of course we have all those Pro-Taliban Fiscal Conservative Retired Professors from Republican Families who are against any change whatsoever.

Vilsack: Maytag is in "deep trouble"

From Radio Iowa:

Maytag executives have been meeting today [Friday] with the Congressman who represents Newton as well as state economic development officials. Governor Tom Vilsack says the state could offer to help re-train Maytag workers on new manufacturing techniques."Perhaps the state can provide resources to provide that training opportunity if we can retain jobs," Vilsack says.

The governor says Maytag is in "deep trouble" and faced with tough decisions...

Once Maytag execs make up their mind, Vilsack says the state can offer assistance, like that community college training for workers.

As I said on Wednesday, I think Maytag's situation is similar to that of Celestica. Corporate welfare from Iowa taxpayers is just going to be delaying the inevitable.

Mandatory Insurance

Wow, the Register Editorial Board and I sort of agree on something:

If universities are serious about getting students affordable health care, they should set up a booth at registration to help them apply for the government insurance.

I said this back in April and the issue has been brewing over at ISU since February.

I still contend that this is a manufactured crisis on the part of a bunch of Socialist medicine kooks in order to push their political agenda. I think if you really did some legwork you'd find an extremely small number of students (if any) at the University of Iowa who didn't qualify under a parent's plan, Hawk-I, or Medicaid - and certainly not the "3000 to 4000" that proponents of mandatory insurance claim.

All About BioDiesel

Marc Franke of Ely has a letter in today's Press-Citizen concerning globalization and renewable energy. The letter also points to his web site: itsgood4.us

I thought Mr Franke's explanation of BioDiesel on this page was excellent. Skip the pro-Kyoto and global climate change nonsense at the end, though.

Tom Harkin had another explanation for high prices at the pump: soaring oil company profits

Oh my god, I'm in tears. This is so funny (from the Waterloo Courier):

Bad news for summer vacation drivers: Gas prices won't drop anytime soon.

"It's going to take time to solve this problem, because it's taken time to get there," John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute, said Wednesday...

But Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, had another explanation for high prices at the pump: soaring oil company profits.

Exxon Mobil Corp. said its first-quarter profits are up 44 percent, and other oil companies are also thriving.

"If you connect the dots with record oil company profits and record prices at the pump --- obviously consumers are the ones paying for those profits," said Allison Dobson, Harkin's spokeswoman.

I can connect dots... and hyperlinks right over to Harkin's elitist douchebag carpetbagging tourist wife (and now on the Iowa Board of Regents) Ruth Harkin.

Ruth Harkin, of course, used to be a director of Conoco (now ConocoPhillips); conveniently it was when her husband was bitching about the "windfall profits" of oil companies.

That is rich.

And crude, pardon the pun.

Ohhhh, the fumes are getting to me.

Repeat After Me: Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib

The Des Moines Register Editorial Board is calling for a Congressional indepenedent commission to study "prison abuse" at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo; ostensibly in order to Get Rumsfeld, as other editorials seem to have wished.

If you search the Register via NewsBank you find a staggering number of articles, op-eds, and letters concerning Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib, but practically nothing on the United Nations Oil-For-Food scandal.

What few letters that have been printed in the Register concerning the Oil-For-Food scandal (according to my search crtieria), aren't always in favor of the investigation.

The Register Editorial Board, to my knowledge, hasn't printed a single editorial concerning the Oil-For-Food scandal. If you query the word "Volcker" back to 1999, you get three instances, all letters from readers, and one of which was from Katy Hansen, the propagandist from Iowa City, which I blogged about at the time.

NewsBank doesn't return information concerning any of the syndicated columnists or wire stories printed in the Register, but running specific queries does demonstrate how the Register's Editorial Board chooses which issues to cheerlead and which issues to ignore.

Honoring "Ordinary" Iowans

This is even dumber than the Iowa Senate honoring non-Iowan Annette Bening a few weeks ago:

From Radio Iowa:

The Iowa Senate routinely passes resolutions that honor individuals, but when the Senate honored actress Annette Bening for her Iowa ties, that was the final straw for one senator.

Bening never lived in Iowa, but her parents did before she was born and she has some relatives who still live here, but the Iowa Senate nevertheless passed a resolution honoring Bening.

Now, Senator Mary Lundby, a Republican from Marion, has drawn up her own Senate resolution. "We had so many resolutions honoring athletes and a lobbyist...and I thought 'I wonder if anybody ever thinks about the ordinary, everyday Iowan (who) goes to work, pays their taxes, says nice things about the state?'" Lundby says. "I just thought it would be appropriate to honor all the rest of 'em. That's what Lundby's resolution does. It honors every Iowan and all former Iowans.

It's SR55, which I have to reproduce in this space to show the scope of the banality:

A Resolution honoring all Iowans, living and previously living, former Iowans, all persons with an Iowa connection, and all persons who have known an Iowan, who have not yet been honored.

WHEREAS, for almost 200 years, from all over the globe, hopeful immigrants have trekked across America to make Iowa their home, or trekked through Iowa on their way to another destination; and

WHEREAS, with grit and determination, these pioneers tamed the prairies, cleared the farmland, drained the swamps, and built the cities, roads, and railways that have made Iowa a great state; and

WHEREAS, sometimes these pioneers stayed and sometimes they moved on; and

WHEREAS, in a latter=day diaspora, Iowans have now been transplanted throughout the United States where they are known as a sturdy, well=educated, above=average people with a strong work ethic; and

WHEREAS, today almost three million Iowans and almost as many former Iowans and people with Iowa connections contribute to the ongoing effort to make the United States of America the great country that it is;

NOW THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, That the Senate honors all those Iowans, both living and previously living, former Iowans, those persons with Iowa connections, and those persons who have known an Iowan, who have not yet been honored by the Senate, and thanks them for the part they may have played in making Iowa the great state and making the United States of America the great country that both are today; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Senate is requested to prepare an official copy of this Resolution and transmit a facsimile via electronic mail to all known persons in the United States with a connection to Iowa and having an electronic mail address, with the request that they present the facsimile to any Iowan they know or meet, or to anyone else with an Iowa connection.

Gee, all I asked after non-Iowan Annette Bening was honored was that they consider a resolution for someone like me. Not every Iowan!

Great, wonderful. I guess we'll be honoring all the murderers, rapists, and robbers as well as the "ordinary" people who keep their noses clean.

Nice work, Lundby. I'm glad you have nothing better to do this week.

Talk About A Hissy Fit

Ben Dover Charles Knoll of Evansdale gets this letter printed in the Waterloo Courier:

It's amazing that President Bush still insists on backing John Bolton to be our United Nations delegate. How can you put a person in such a high position when he can't control his own emotions with his subordinates? Being in a managerial position for 35 years, one of the basic rules of being a good quality leader is simply to praise your subordinates to everyone within hearing distance when they have done something good, but when they have done something wrong they are criticized behind closed doors on a one-on-one basis. Mr. Bolton has demonstrated that he can't handle being challenged or questioned about his opinion. You don't demean your fellow constituents in front of everyone. Is this a demonstration of his lust for power by belittling people? Does this make him feel important? What it does show is a weak and poor leader. His communistic style of leadership is not what is needed in the United Nations. When he has another country disagree with his own philosophy is he going to have a hissy fit in front of the world theater? Is he going to jump up and down in a childish tirade when things don't go his way? The United Nations needs a lot of changes, but throwing your weight around in a rage of belligerence is not the answer.

Yeah, Ben Dover Charles Knoll certainly knows a lot about management.

If Ben Dover Charles Knoll had his way, he'd only have delegates to the United Nations who would take all those corrupt, skimming, kickback-receiving, child-raping-and-prostituting diplomats behind closed doors to criticize them. No need to air any dirty laundry about such scandals, the not genocide in Darfur, or the fact that Libya chaired the Human Rights Commission or that Zimbabwe, China, and Saudi Arabia are current members. Oh no. Wouldn't want that.

Next Up: Tuition Increases Between Classes

See what happens when you let a bunch of rich, Socialist, elitist douchebags take over the Iowa Board of Regents:

Iowa's 61,000 public university students could face another tuition increase in the 2005-06 school year if the Legislature fails to give the universities more money, Board of Regents President Michael Gartner said Thursday.

Based on the amount of money the Senate approved for the universities this week, regents would probably consider a 3 percent tuition increase to go into effect during the spring semester, Gartner said.

Sneaky move there, Regents.

What's next? Tuition increases that go into effect while walking between classes?

Lord knows the universities are out of money. Why, the UI Foundation hasn't given their president, who earns $250,000 a year, a raise since 2002. Waaa waaa waaa!

In That Case, Let's Make I-235 Just Two Lanes

From the Des Moines Register:

It's become more difficult for police officers to issue speeding tickets on I-235 because there are fewer places to safely pull anybody over, Wingert said. On the other hand, he said, "speeding during the day isn't a big issue. The congestion kind of regulates the speed."

Well, heck, since the point of I-235 from the Des Moines Police Department's perspective is to keep speeds low then let's make I-235 just two lanes. One lane west. One lane east.

Duh.

A Question About Equal Protection

Chad and Jeff at Tusk & Talon have a question concerning equal protection and the tax break given to the Newton Racetrack.

Hawkeye Downs (warning: Java) is Iowa's only asphalt oval, according to this web site. The rest of Iowa's speedways have dirt ovals or are drag strips.

Another interesting thing about Hawkeye Downs is that it's a non-profit organization, run by the All Iowa Agricultural Association Board. They also have exhibitions, bingo, and dog obedience classes, so it appears to be a multi-purpose facility.

NewsBank found me a story from the Cedar Rapids Gazette from 2003 which said that weekly attendance figures are about 3000. The prices for each event are very reasonable: $10 for most adult tickets and $1 for children!

I'd be surprised if the Newton Racetrack pulls many people from Cedar Rapids or Iowa City. The prices are bound to be higher at Newton, plus it's about a 90 minute drive from Iowa City to Newton down I-80. I think the Newton people are hoping to pull fans from Des Moines and Knoxville/Pella, but Knoxville's Sprint car races are legendary and very popular.

The NewsBank story seemed to indicate that Hawkeye Downs, because it's run by a non-profit, essentially lives hand-to-mouth. I'd be surprised if the All Iowa Agricultural Association Board bothered with any legal challenge to the sales tax giveaway. What would Hawkeye Downs gain from a lawsuit? Nothing.

I'm sure the Iowa Legislature will ramrod through another sales tax break in the future that has a better opportunity to be challenged in the courts.

Brain-Dead WHO-TV Piece On Islam

Those WHO-TV snooze people are freakin' retards if they think we believe this nonsense:

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States. Here in Iowa, it seems to be no different, and there are few reasons why so many Iowans are connecting with this faith...

After 9-11, [Ako Abdul-Samad] says people living in Des Moines seemed to become more educated about Islam. He believes they learned it is a religion of peace. "When people saw that, we started getting converts left and right. People were saying, 'I like what I hear.'"

Huh?


Ako Abdul-Samad spoke at the White Privilege Conference in Pella last week and is a member of the Des Moines School Board. He also supported Dennis Kucinich for President instead of Al Sharpton because the United States is "not ready for an African-American candidate."

What a kook.

Upromise Swipe Card and HyVee

Another good thing:

Hy-Vee has teamed with investment administrator Upromise and Iowa State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald to add a new wrinkle to College Savings Iowa, the state's college investment program.

The Upromise swipe card, actually in place for about three weeks, was announced Wednesday during a promotional tour stop in Council Bluffs with Fitzgerald; Ruth Comer, Hy-Vee assistant vice president of communications; and James J. Fadule, Upromise Investments president.

Iowans can sign up for the Upromise swipe card at Hy-Vee stores. The cashier swipes the card at the counter when the customer checks out, and up to 5 percent of the cost of certain items is returned to them for college savings.

The money is collected by Upromise, a company founded in 2001 to help families save for college and the administrator of College Savings Iowa for the past year, and put into the cardholder's account on a quarterly basis once it reaches $25.

About 1,500 items in most stores qualify for the program, including products from brand names like Coca-Cola, Kelloggs and Proctor and Gamble.

Comer said Hy-Vee has added new technology that makes the program possible in about 85 percent of the company's Iowa stores. That figure will increase as stores continue to update their technology.

People with a Citi Upromise credit card already were able to save for college with Hy-Vee, Comer said. This adds a new dimension, with shoppers using checks or cash also able to contribute to college savings.

"We wanted to be in the program so people could use any form of payment," Comer said. The cash registers are programmed to automatically record the product and the contribution...

Using a Citi Upromise credit card can increase to 10 percent the amount directed from some products to college savings, Fadule said.

College Savings Iowa is a 529 plan, which refers to the section of the IRS Code that authorizes it, that allows families to invest money for college expenses in one of 12 options from The Vanguard Group. Open to everyone, Iowa residents can deduct up to $2,290 of their investment from their state income taxes per account, per year.

Even better, married participants who each contribute to separate accounts on behalf of their two children can deduct up to $9,160 (4 x $2,290).

And from the Des Moines Register version of this story:

Fitzgerald said the Hy-Vee shopper cards are available to parents, grandparents and even friends of account beneficiaries.

Here's the College Savings Iowa web site.

Every little bit helps.

John Hauptman, Spitting On Iowa Soldiers

John Hauptman, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, had this letter printed in the Des Moines Register today:

I remember Robert Jason Gore ("Iowan Killed in Helicopter Attack," April 23).

He was a student in my physics class. One day Gore excitedly came to me and asked if he could quit school in the middle of the semester. He said he wanted to go to Iraq and was very excited about this. I advised him to stay in school.

His death was a waste, as are all the other 1,500 dead American young and the 10,000 maimed-for-life young men who will never have a fair chance at life.

I remember other Robert Gores in the 1960s who wanted to fight in Vietnam because it was glorious and patriotic, and who came back with damaged brains, damaged personalities and damaged lives to live. I remember those who did not come back.

Like Iraq now, I remember the lies about the Gulf of Tonkin, the lies about the body counts, the lies about winning hearts and minds, the lies about the happy and grateful Vietnamese, the lies about My Lai, the lies about valor, the lies about the boys being home for Christmas, 1965.

It is the lies that sucker these young men to go off to war as if it was a Friday-evening high-school football game.

It was said by the young during the Vietnam War, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?" We are not there yet.

Compare this vile and disgusting letter to Talented Hack's beautiful tribute to Robert Jason Gore in his blog.

Want to send the spitting professor a note about what you think of his attempt to dishonor Robert Jason Gore? Here's his web page and info at ISU.

Update: More stories about Jason Gore here.

Mike Gronstal Is Gross

From Yepsen's column today:

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal is trying to quit smoking, so he chews handfuls of that expensive nicotine gum. On Monday, he'd just popped a fresh tab of it into his mouth when the TV cameras showed up to ask him about the death penalty.

Gronstal parked his gum on top of a file cabinet and did his interview. As he walked away he plopped the gooey mess back in his mouth. When challenged on his hygiene, he said: "Hey, these things cost 50 cents apiece, I chew two at a time and there's still nicotine in here."

Yuck!

Uninsured College Students

You know, sometimes I think the Socialized medicine crowd want to make it a crime to not have health insurance. From the Des Moines Register:

A proposal to require University of Iowa students to carry health insurance would place an additional financial burden on students already squeezed by college costs, student government leaders on Wednesday told an Iowa Board of Regents committee.

The proposal would require all students to show proof of health insurance when they register for classes. Students who don't have insurance would be automatically billed monthly through the university's health insurance plan.

Mark Kresowik, U of I student body president, said the proposal would hurt the students already facing the most financial stress.

About 3,000 to 4,000 uninsured students would be affected, or less than 15 percent of the student body, U of I officials said. If students are billed through the university health plan, the cost would be about $70 a month for a student, or about $840 a year.

Considering that an Iowa resident will pay $2800 a semester for tuition (PDF) in the 2005-2006 academic year at the University of Iowa, this would result in an extra 10%-15% surcharge on uninsured students and would certainly result in higher debt loads.

Phillip Jones, the Veep for Student Services at Iowa, says that about $450,000 a year is incurred by uninsured students at the hospital. Is that amount mostly paid off by the students? How much of that isn't paid, sent to collection agencies, and charged off by the hospital? That would be better data to know. If students are mostly paying their medical bills then this is nothing but a manufactured crisis by the Socialist medicine crowd.

I also think the notion that 3000 to 4000 University of Iowa students don't have health insurance is a bogus number. How do they know this? Most data shows that about 10-15% of people do not carry any form of health insurance and are not enrolled in any type of government-sponsored plan even though they may qualify. Since the 2004 enrollment at Iowa is just under 30,000 students, then I'm speculating that they're just using general population polling data and applying it to their numbers.

I wouldn't be surprised if the number of UI students who choose to not carry health insurance and do not qualify for coverage under a parent's plan, Hawk-I, or Medicaid is very very small.

When I went to college, I did not qualify under my parents' insurance. I did purchase insurance through the college, a kind of catastrophic plan. It was very plain vanilla. It cost something like $80 for the entire year and my parents happily picked up the tab. I understand the value of purchasing insurance, which is to prevent financial losses, but I am not in favor of making it mandatory. If anything, college students should be forced to purchase renter's insurance considering the number of thefts that occur.

In the end, I think the Board of Regents will make health insurance mandatory at the three state universities. The Board is chocked full of rich, elitist Socialists like Ruth Harkin and Michael Gartner. This will just give the Regents and others a chance to bitch about the cost of a college education in Iowa and whine about how expensive health insurance has become.

Abe Fortas, Not The Sausage King Of Chicago

Ben Saddoris of Osceola had a letter printed in the Des Moines Register which leaves out a whole bunch of important things:

In his April 25 letter in favor of ending the Senate filibuster of judicial nominees, David Pulliam stated that no such filibuster had ever been enacted on the floor of the Senate prior to George W. Bush's presidency ("Super-Majority Not Needed for Confirmations"). This is factually incorrect.

In 1968, Republicans successfully filibustered the nomination of Abe Fortas for U.S. chief justice by voting against cloture.

I guess Mr Saddoris is rather convenient with choosing what to say about historical events.

All you have to do is read Patterico and Pejman Yousefzadeh's recent columns to see Mr Saddoris's argument completely destroyed.

Vilsack Signs $12.5 Million Newton Racetrack Tax Giveaway

There seems to be some twists to the Newton Racetrack story that haven't been reported anywhere. I'm sure more will come out overnight or in the next week.

From Radio Iowa:

Governor Tom Vilsack was in Newton's City Hall Wednesday evening to sign a bill into law that grants a $12.5 million tax break to a race track planned in Newton. Vilsack says the speedway is part of a "new vision" for the state. "This is clearly going to be one of the crown jewels of our efforts," Vilsack said...

With the governor's signature on the bill, the race track owners will be able to get a $12.5 million rebate on state sales taxes charged on race tickets and concessions at the track. The legislation stipulates that at least 60 percent of the track must be owned by Iowans; track backers said Wednesday it'll be 100 percent Iowa-owned.

100% Iowa-owned?

That's somewhat encouraging, if it's true. There were certainly a lot of questions about UBG Financial, the company the Iowa investors were using to seal the deal.

I'm nervous about any business that takes 4 1/2 years to secure financing, and then ultimately has to resort to taxpayer-subsidized corporate welfare. Too bad it wasn't a combination ethanol plant/race track, then the financing could have been wrapped up in a couple of weeks.

I'm still against this sort of corporate welfare tax break. Everybody and their grandmother is going to want one.

The Iowa Cubs REALLY Suck

This is really, really bad:

The Iowa Cubs blew a big lead and then were shut down by an emergency-situation pitching effort from a shortstop today, in a 13-8 loss to Nashville in 10 innings at Principal Park.

Iowa led 8-3 after seven innings before Nashville rallied. Steve Scarborough, a shortstop, then pitched scoreless ninth and 10th innings for the win in front of 4,565.

"We didn't have anyone left," Scarborough said. "The bullpen was all used up. I just threw strikes, and hoped they hit it right at guys. I wasn't fooling anybody."

Nashville scored five runs in the 10th, keyed by Rickie Week's three-run home run.

Cubs manager Mike Quade was extremely unhappy about his team losing the big lead.

"What are we, (26) games into the season? It's time to start figuring out what everybody's about, whether or not they can compete at this level," Quade said after his team lost for the eighth time in nine Pacific Coast League games.

That's bad.

Related: Iowa Cubs Pitching Depth