Fort Madison-Raised Porn Star Anna Malle Died In Car Crash

From the Las Vegas Sun:

A retired porn star still easing into a life outside the adult film business has died in a car crash on a dangerous stretch of highway south of Las Vegas.

Anna Hotop-Stout, 38, known to the adult film world as Anna Malle, died Wednesday after the car she was traveling in collided with a pickup truck while making a U-turn. She had not been wearing a seat belt, Nevada Highway Patrol officers said.

In her 15-year career, Hotop-Stout made more than 300 films, about one-third of them with her husband, retired porn actor Hank Armstrong.

She was born near Havana, Ill., raised in Fort Madison, Iowa, and began working in the porn industry in California in the early 1990s, Armstrong said Friday. Her first film "Here Comes Anna Malle" was released in 1994. One of her favorites was 1995's "Naked Desert," her husband said.

Hotop-Stout had retired from the film business a year ago and was working at a Bloomingdale's wedding registry in Las Vegas, Armstrong said.

"She didn't want to be known as the old chick that had to work," he said. "She wanted a normal life again."

The Las Vegas resident was a passenger in a 2005 Dodge Stratus that was making a U-turn on state Route 160 when it turned into the path of a 1985 Chevrolet pickup truck, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. She was taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where she died.

Anne Malle may be gone, but you can still buy her multi-speed vibrating vagina and anus:

Modeled after Anna Malle's gorgeous pussy. Made of an extremely soft rubber. Features dual entries, because you know Anna likes it in the ass sometimes. Multi-speed vibrations are controlled by the power pack. Requires 2 AA Batteries.

The now-totally-gay-and-worthless Wonkette blog may no longer dish out the occasional rim shot mention, but we're willing to keep the tradition alive every now and then.

At least we can guess at what Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor Anna Malle probably was.

Roger Bentley Guilty

Fry him.

Oh, wait. We're in Iowa. We can't. Too bad.

See you at appeal! Hope you get the fate of Jeffrey Dahmer.

Those Trustworthy Nigerians

From AgriNews:

Delaware County farmers Doug Bishop and Doug Schulte were hoping to add value to their corn when they got involved in efforts to build an ethanol plant south of Earlville.

Today, the land purchased to build the Northeast Iowa Ethanol plant is bare, and Schulte, Bishop and other cooperative officials are involved in a prolonged legal battle to recover funds the limited liability company and farmer cooperative raised for the project.

Schulte and Bishop's testimony last week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids offers a glimpse of what could best be described as an investor's worst nightmare.

Bishop, a Manchester farmer who raises grain and feeds hogs, was elected president of the board of Northeast Iowa Grain Processors. The project attracted 252 members and raised $2.356 million. They met with bankers, but were having difficulty finding a lender for the $21 million project because the banks required 40 percent equity.

The firm designing their ethanol plant introduced Bishop and other cooperative officials to Dorchester Enterprises, a Canadian investment company. Dorchester proposed taking a block of money and setting it in a protected account. That money would be used to secure a loan.

"It was unconventional financing and it was new to all of us,'' Bishop said.

About this time the co-op formed a limited liability company -- Northeast Iowa Ethanol -- so that non-farmers could invest. North Central Construction and Williams Bio-Energy invested a total of $1.5 million.

Bishop had hoped to start construction in fall 2001 and be producing ethanol in 2002.

Bishop said that if Martin Ubani, Dorchester Enterprises and Global Syndicate International hadn't agreed to the condition that Northeast Iowa Ethanol be allowed to approve all transfers of money, they never would have given permission for money to be transferred.

Dorchester's William Davenport suggested that Martin Ubani, a Nigerian now believed to be living in Munich, Germany, would serve as administrator of the funds in the restricted account. Northeast Iowa Ethanol agreed provided that withdrawals from their account required their approval.

Ubani recruited Jerry Drizin, a Clearwater, Fla., businessman, and Global Syndicate International to help invest the funds. Drizin formed GSI in 2001 for the purpose of investing funds raised by Ubani, said Steven Wandro, attorney for Northeast Iowa Ethanol LLC. Drizin had experience selling real estate and insurance, but wasn't a licensed investment adviser or stockbroker.

"The officers and directors of Northeast Iowa Ethanol had no experience in dealing with unconventional financing, and as a result they placed great trust and reliance in Ubani and GSI to act in their best interest,'' Wandro said.

Doug Schulte, a Manchester farmer, got involved with the ethanol project and became a board member. In summer 2001, he agreed to serve as project manager. He acted as liaison between Dorchester and the cooperative board.

Schulte said he had no experience with the type of financing Dorchester Enterprises proposed. Like Bishop, he said that without the requirement that Ubani had to get Northeast Iowa Ethanol's permission to take money out of the restricted bank account, he wouldn't have agreed to the proposal.

When the letter of credit Ubani promised didn't arrive, "I knew we'd been had,'' Schulte said.

Sigh...

What a bunch of dumbfucks.

Don't they know you can't trust Nigerians?

Stuck On 'Loser'

From the Political Soreass:

Bush is a lame duck, and there is no way that tonight’s State of the Union will fix anything. I won’t be blogging it — I’ll be with friends making a game out of it.

Don't forget to add Samuel Alito to your game pieces. Alito should be down front tonight, robe and all.

Ted Kennedy will be somewhere in the crowd, all Chivas-faced.

Bad Omen For The Rainforest

The Iowa City Press-Citizen has a story about how Coralville, Tiffin, and Grinnell are still hanging on to the hope that the rainforest project will happen.

Frankly, who cares? The whole project is taking the dead cat bounce ever since Dubuque pulled out and the Des Moines moneyed mafia rejected it a second time, but the article has some interesting facts and funny errors within it:

[Nancy] Quellhorst [the project's vice-president, spokeswoman, director of operations, and god knows what else] has been hired to become president of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce beginning Feb. 6. She said she was unaware of plans for a successor. David Omen, project president, did not return phone calls.

David OMEN. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Maybe Quellhorst can do for the Iowa City Area Chamber Of Commerce what she did for the Rainforest project, which is jack shit.

There's more:

With recent departures, such as Quellhorst and Ted Stilwill, the former education director, some local leaders question the project's leadership structure.

"I don't think some of these people would have left if leadership had been different," said Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, who declined to elaborate.

Who is Jacoby talking about? Is it Filthy Ray? Weasel Grassley? We just don't know. Anybody want to make a guess?

Note also the misspelled name of Ted Stilwell, the ass clown who suggested that the rainforest could make money by charging people $42 a night to camp under the dome.

Isn't it funny how most of the rats have fled the ship right after the money dried up?

Technology and JOBS, Iowa Style

From the Waterloo Courier:

The digital revolution has reached the Waterloo Public Library.

The library began offering electronic audio books, or e-audio books, earlier this month through the Web site www.netlibrary.com, which allows patrons to download books to their mp3 players or computers.

Librarian Sheryl Groskurth said the service will take advantage of the popularity of digital music players and allow people to download books anywhere and at any time.

"People can do it 24 hours a day. You can just get on a computer and download your books. It just seems a lot simpler to do it that way," she said.

The service does have limitations, however. It is only compatible with Windows Media Player, which means the iPod, the market leader in digital music players, will not work with the service.

The iPod isn't just the market leader. It is the market owner.

This is from Bloomberg.com a couple of months ago:

The iPod had an 82 percent share of the market in U.S. retail stores in the 12 months ended in August, up from 64 percent in the same period a year earlier, and 33 percent two years ago, according to Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group Inc.

Golly, what are those Waterloo residents going to do? Maybe Clark McLeod could manufacture some MP3 players so that people get a chance to hear these audio books. All it takes is some seed money from the taxpayers in the form of a new MP3 Player Utility. Let's pull some local leaders together to see what can happen. We'll need Vilsack, the next Hi-Tech President, to throw in some Vision Iowa dough, and Senator Chuck Grassley might be able to transfer that $50 million $47.1 million over from the rainforest project to the MP3 Player Utility.

It's all about the jobs, you know. Jobs and technology. Iowa could be the new Silicon Valley full of high paying jobs. Jobs and MP3 players filled with free audio books from the library in Waterloo.

Wait, why are we calling them J-O-B-S? That's the name of the guy who invented the iPod. Shit. We're going to have to think of another word for J-BS. We'll get back to you on this.

Bush Has No Support In Iowa

According to the Des Moines Register, who bought a poll of Democrats Iowans, President Bush has no support in Iowa despite winning an election here just 14 months ago.

Well, that settles that. We're never voting for Bush again.

Lame Followup In The Register On Those Dirty Political Contributions To Culver and Blouin

Tom Beaumont has a followup piece on the Scott K. Ginsburg and Bernard Schwartz controveries in the Register today. It's pretty lame:

Scott K. Ginsburg, a Sioux City native, is a longtime Culver family friend who contributed $40,000 to the campaign. He was fined $1 million for violating Securities and Exchange Commission rules in the 1990s...


Schwartz's company, Loral Space and Communication, was the subject of a federal probe in the late 1990s over whether it violated U.S. rules by selling satellite technology to China.

Schwartz, Loral's chief executive officer, was not named in the investigation. The company agreed in 2002 to pay a $14 million fine and spend $6 million to beef up its compliance with federal law.

Ginsburg was busted for insider trading and enriching family members who ended up paying nearly $5 million in fines themselves. Schwartz was busted for selling military satellite hardware to the Chinese after donating a shitload of money to the DNC and Clinton. Why don't you tell the whole story, Beaumont?

It's bad enough that Iowa has a rotten political disclosure law that uses ancient technology and that any criminal in the US can bribe statewide candidates for any amount, but central Iowa's monopoly corporate newspaper could care less other than to offer vague lip service to the situation.

Lawrence Korb, Speaking At The University Of Iowa

From the Daily Iowan:

President Bush's defense policy may need some changes, says Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration.

Korb offered his recommendations for a new defense policy at a Monday lecture for a UI foreign-policy course...

Korb's proposed policy would involve re-evaluating who the enemies of the United States are and ceasing the war on terrorism. He said all terrorists are not our enemies and added terrorism is a tactic, not a force to be fought...

He says the other aspect of Bush's policy, military dominance, allows the administration to "justify every weapon the military comes up with," such as high-dollar airplanes capable of going twice the speed of sound.

"Bin Laden doesn't have an air force," said Korb, drawing laughter from the audience.

Oh yeah?

Double Dipper Bill Krause, Mr Kum & Go, Can't Buy Nussle Support Of Slottery Machines

From WHO-TV:

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle says he doesn't want to see Iowa become addicted to the money the Iowa Lottery's Touchplay machines bring in. He proposes pulling the plugs on Touchplays even though it'll cost the state 45 million next year. Now, one of Nussle's biggest supporters is pulling his support.

Bill Krause is one of the Republican party's biggest activists and biggest donors. He may also have the most to lose if lawmakers ban Touchplays. Krause is the founder and owner of the Kum N Go convenience store chain. The lottery says 205 of his stores have Touchplays. Records show Krause also founded a distribution company call Royal Financial. That company distributes nearly 1,500 Touchplays to stores all over the state. So Krause makes money on two fronts. He makes money from distribution of the Touchplay machines. Plus, he makes money the machines bring in to the Kum N Go stores. Krause had supported Jim Nussle for governor. Records show he and his son have donated about 25-thousand dollars to Nussle's campaign.

We obtained an email from the Associated Press reportedly from Krause to Nussle after Nussle told supporters he wants Touchplays removed. Krause is quoted as saying to Nussle, ''Jim, you have destroyed our confidence in you as a candidate for governor. Please take all the Krauses and our employees off any mailings.'' Krause is not commenting on the email. Nussle's campaign said Krause is not asking to get his campaign donation back. And Nussle won't change his position on wanting to take away the Touchplays.

Well, good for Nussle. Even though we don't like him as a potential gubernatorial candidate, at least he has the balls to stand up to some rich old fart who has more than enough money already without getting everybody in Iowa addicted to those dirty slottery machines.

It also helps that Kum & Go stores are mostly filthy shitholes. They're certainly several levels below Quik Trips, Phillips 66s, C-Marts, Casey's, or even the Ladora Stora, so it's not like we'd ask anybody to boycott them. Most people, especially women, who have been in the bathroom of a Kum & Go already know that it's probably safer to take a shit behind the dumpsters out back.

Porn At The Library

Hey, you!!! Quit looking at Melissa Midwest and keep reading.

From Radio Iowa:

Three Republican Senators are pressing for restrictions on "adult, pornographic" materials in Iowa's public libraries. Federal law requires anti-porn filters on computers in libraries which get federal funding, but Senator Jeff Angelo, a Republican from Creston, says some Iowa libraries get no federal money and therefore aren't required by law to install the filters.

He's co-sponsoring a bill to require Iowa's public libraries to install those porn filters on library computers. "It cannot be denied that there are men in this state who are going into our public libraries on a weekly or sometimes daily basis and accessing pornography (on the Internet)," Angelo says. He says there's plenty of modern filtering technology which allows people to do legitimate on-line research without accessing objectionable, pornographic materials.

How many libraries in Iowa aren't getting any Federal funding? It's probably not many or they're so small they're operating on a shoestring. We suspect most libraries affected are like the library in Wilton. Honestly, we can't imagine that anybody is accessing porn on the computers there.

And what happens if somebody goes into the West Des Moines Public Library and starts accessing porn with their own laptop through the wireless internet connection? What's the Iowa Legislature going to do about that in five or ten years down the road?

The Iowa Library Association is critical of the bill because they think small-town librarians aren't sophisticated enough to install a $29 version of Net Nanny on the library's Pentium II running Windows 98. That might be, but we enjoyed this howler at the end of a related Radio Iowa story:

The bill under consideration in the state senate also would force libraries to impose new restrictions on R-rated movies so kids under the age of 17 could not check those movies out. Craig says the Library Association believes those decisions should be made at the local level. "We have a great system in Iowa of public library boards that are the policy-making authorities for their particular libraries," Craig says.

Legislators also complain that kids are able to check out movies with adult sexual content like "The 40-year-old Virgin" and "American Pie," but Craig says her group believes libraries can be "more flexible" than movie theaters are in their admission policies. "The parent should be monitoring and making decisions about what they allow or don't allow their children to do," Craig says. "If a parent has allowed a 15-year-old to check out materials from the library and those materials include R-rated movies, we think that's a decision the parent should be able to make."

Perhaps a compromise can be reached. Maybe something similar to the Vilsack-endorsed graduated driver's license system for teens:

• INSTRUCTION LIBRARY CARD: Teens can apply for instruction library card at 14. Adult and State Senator supervision is required when they check out a movie rated PG-13 and they cannot check out any R-rated movies. A teen with an instruction permit must go six months without thinking impure thoughts or seeing violence before becoming eligible for an intermediate library card.

• INTERMEDIATE LIBRARY CARD: At 16, those who have completed abstinence education and who have been drug tested may apply for an intermediate library card. Holders can check out PG-13 movies and any non-R-rated foreign flicks, excluding anything by Fellini. They must go 12 months without thinking impure thoughts or seeing violence before becoming eligible for an unrestricted library card.

• UNRESTRICTED LIBRARY CARD: At 17, they become eligible for an unrestricted library card. They will then be issued a Federal taxpayer-paid DVD of Bareback Mounthim.

Deacon Blouin Accepted $25,000 From Busted China Sellout

Earlier today we dogged on Chet Culver's $40,000 payoff from a Dallas businessman who was convicted of insider trading and fined a million dollars.

Now it's Deacon Blouin's turn.

Blouin accepted $25,000 (PDF) from Bernard Schwartz, a Daddy Warbucks figure for the corrupt side of the Ron Brown/Al Gore/Bill Clinton administration. Schwartz is CEO of Loral, who was ordered to pay $20,000,000 in fines after violating the express terms and conditions of Department of State munitions licenses and by exporting defense services without a munitions license or other authorization to the People’s Republic of China.

The Freepers have a good timeline on Schwartz's contributions to the DNC and what it bought his company. Mother Jones also has an interesting profile on Schwartz from 1997.

Once again, we invite readers to compare Iowa's free-for-all system of legalized bribery with other states. We think there should be limits on contributions to statewide political candidates, especially from people living outside of Iowa.

As for Blouin and Culver, we think it's rather unseemly that they are accepting contributions from rich fuckers with unscrupulous or criminal pasts.

And just to be fair: if anybody has gone over Jim Ross Nussle's campaign disclosure form and found some Republican scumbag criminal who has contributed, please let us know and we'll be happy to profile it.

Culver's Crooked Donor Is Damned By Deacon Blouin's Campaign Manager

From a reader:

Blouin campaign manager Matt Paul, writing in a press release about Chet Culver's crooked $40,000 donor from Dallas:

A recent filing with the Iowa Campaign Ethics and Disclosure Board revealed that Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver accepted $40,000 from Scott K. Ginsburg of Dallas, Texas in 2005. Ginsburg was fined $1 million for insider trading violations by the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC.)

In 2002, a federal jury ruled in Florida that Ginsburg engaged in insider trading. In 2004, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ordered him to pay a $1 million fine (a record amount for violators not executing the trade himself) and ordered a permanent injunction against Ginsburg. Ginsburg was Chairman and CEO of Evergreen Media Corporation, a publicly held broadcasting company, when he offered illegal information to family members in 1996 and 1997. Ginsburg's father and brother settled with the SEC and agreed to pay $4.7 million in fines and accept life injunctions. Scott Ginsburg had amassed a personal fortune working in the broadcasting business, including a sizable transaction with televangelist Pat Robertson.

"Iowans expect and deserve fair and clean elections," said Blouin Campaign Manager Matt Paul. "Secretary Culver's campaign should do the right thing, respect Iowa values, and return the Ginsburg money."

Former Dallas Mayor and US Senatorial Candidate Ron Kirk returned two donations from Ginsburg in 2002.

We'd be happier if the Blouin campaign was calling for campaign finance neutering and better disclosure in Iowa, but just bumping this scandal further is good enough for now.


Related: Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman Accepts Political Contributions From A Convicted Insider Trader

Welcome Back, International Male

The Iowa Libertarian is back.

2006 RAGDBRAI

The Des Moines Register recently announced the path of this year's Annual Great Drunk Bike Ride Across Iowa. Here's the official web site.

What's with that 25 mile-or-so jaunt between Marengo and Coralville? Even the final day's hop between Coralville and Muscatine can be finished faster than a teenage boy on prom night.

Eternal Vigilance Is The Price Of Truth

Robert Farago, writing for Jalopnik.com:

As I’ve already dropped the f-bomb, I’ll simply say that this asinine statement is so obviously and wildly inaccurate that it would take an obscure, deluded liberal academic — preferably tenured — to make anything like a plausible defense of its logic. Good thing Harris found Rob Latham, a “popular culture expert” at the University of Iowa.

Read the whole thing to get the context.

We also went to Latham's web site at the University of Iowa. It's a nightmare of bad web design, but we bet he teaches some fun and really easy classes.

New Blog: LineTheCage.com

Kevin Schmidt, the creator of the NineDwarfs and OneDwarf web sites/blogs during the 2004 Presidential campaigns, is back with a new blog called LineTheCage.com.

Schmidt had been one of the Des Moines Register's infamous "Juice" bloggers, but was recently let go. Maybe he'll have a post explaining how he got the squeeze from the Gannettoids.

We've mentioned Schmidt a couple of times. The first was when the Juice blogs launched. The second was when we got accused of being Kevin Schmidt.

You've got to wonder what the hell the Register was thinking when they launched those Juice blogs. Did they think all those house bloggas were going to stay on the plantation writing all that inane crap?

Mainstream Iowan On "No Pass, No Play"

From the Mainstream Iowan blog:

How many of those lobbying to enable academic failure would tolerate similar behaviors on their athletic teams? Change "cutting class" to "blowing off practice", "talking back to the teacher" to "challenging the coach", or "having special learning needs" to "can't hit the floor with a dropped basketball", and you'd quickly learn how serious some administrators are about enforcing the mantra, "Sports are the only thing keeping some kids in school."

Indeed.

Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman Accepts Political Contributions From A Convicted Insider Trader

Updated below:




From a reader:

Scott K. Ginsburg, friend to Chet Culver, gave $40,000 to his Iowa Governor Campaign. Mr. Ginsburg was banned for life by the SEC for Securities violations and fined $1 million by a U.S. District Court.

We confirmed that the Culver campaign received $40,000 from Dallas businessman Scott K. Ginsburg. $10,000 disclosed here (PDF). $10,000 and $20,000 contributions disclosed here (PDF).

Want to know about Mr Ginsburg's insider trading conviction and $1 million civil penalty? Read this March 23, 2004 litigation release by the Securities And Exchange Commission:

On March 19, 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reinstated a jury verdict against Dallas businessman Scott K. Ginsburg for insider trading in violation of the federal securities laws. The Court of Appeals also reinstated a $1 million civil penalty and ordered the district court to impose a permanent injunction from future violations.

Ginsburg was originally found liable on April 16, 2002, when a federal jury in West Palm Beach, Florida found that he had engaged in illegal insider trading based on his tips to, and resulting trading by, his brother, Mark J. Ginsburg, and father, Jordan E. Ginsburg, in the common stock of EZ Communications, Inc., and Katz Media Group, Inc. The jury found that, in July 1996, Scott Ginsburg, then the chairman and chief executive officer of Evergreen Media Corporation, a publicly-held radio company, tipped Mark Ginsburg and Jordan Ginsburg with information that EZ was for sale and that Mark Ginsburg and Jordan Ginsburg purchased EZ stock prior to the announcement that EZ would be sold to another radio company. The jury also found that, less than a year later, in June 1997, Scott Ginsburg tipped Mark Ginsburg with information about the sale of Katz Media at a time when substantial steps had been taken by Evergreen and another entity towards a joint tender offer for the shares of Katz Media. The day after the tip, Mark Ginsburg purchased Katz Media stock. The SEC alleged that Mark and Jordan Ginsburg realized illegal profits of $1.8 million from their trading based on tips from Scott Ginsburg.

After a seven-day trial, a jury found that Scott Ginsburg violated Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Exchange Act Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3, which are antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. The district court imposed a $1 million civil penalty, but declined to impose an injunction. In December 2002, on Ginsburg's motion, the district court threw out the jury verdict and the penalty, stating that the SEC had not presented sufficient evidence to support the verdict. The SEC appealed that decision as well as the district court's denial of injunctive relief.

In reversing the district court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the SEC had presented sufficient evidence at trial to support the jury's verdict against Scott Ginsburg and that the district court had abused its discretion in denying the permanent injunction sought by the SEC. The court of appeals also reinstated the $1 million civil penalty that the district court initially had ordered against Ginsburg.

Prior to the trial of Scott Ginsburg in this case, on March 30, 2002, Mark Ginsburg and Jordan Ginsburg had settled the SEC's insider trading charges against them, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, by consenting to the entry of final judgments that included permanent injunctions, disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil money penalties totaling over $4.7 million.

The SEC acknowledges the assistance provided by The American Stock Exchange in certain parts of the investigation of this matter.

You know, it's appropriate that somebody like Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman would accept such a large sum of money from an out-of-state crook, especially since Flounder's own Daddy Warbucks made a lot of money from insider information as well.

Where's the Iowa media on this? These political disclosure forms have been out in the public domain for 10 days and we haven't seen a peep in any of the papers about this sort of thing. Shouldn't this be front page news? Not in corrupt Iowa!

We wonder what Chet Culver's biggest brown-nosing blogger thinks of such a revelation.

Likewise, we wonder when Ed Fallon's gang is going to jump all over this.

Who broke this story first? A quick look at Technorati shows that it was the Politics In Iowa blog on Friday with their Where's Secretary Culver? post. It's a new blog, so perhaps few people are reading it. Nobody else seems to have picked up on this story.


Update: How hard is it for somebody at a newspaper or an opposing campaign to run an out-of-state, high-dollar donor's name through Google using a specific word like convicted?


Later Update: All the more reason to update Iowa's rotten political disclosure law to embrace internet and database technology that was readily available in 1996. If candidates had to file electronically then the public would be able to add up the amounts contributed by individuals much quicker. An example of this would be a service like Fundrace.org. The two PDFs that the Politics In Iowa blog had search through to put together this information were a total of 208 pages.


Much Later Update: The Political Forecast responds. Looks like we missed this Tom Beaumont piece in the Des Moines Register on Saturday that mentions Ginsburg's contribution in passing. Here's the Political Forecast's excuse-making and spinning:

Now, I admit that this is a huge oversight. But it happens. People — whether they have a criminal record or not — have a right to give to political campaigns, don’t they? What is the big deal about this besides trying to bring negative publicity to the Culver Camp and make them seem like they’re doing something wrong, when in fact, they aren’t.

That's so funny. Talk about being ethically debased. But then this is the same armchair commentator who bought and spun the Howard Dean lie that the Jack Abramoff scandal only applied to Republicans because of direct campaign contributions; nevermind that the evidence is clear that Abramoff also directed his clients to funnel a lot of money to pay off Democrats.

Maybe criminals have a right to contribute vast sums of money to political campaigns in other states, but the public should be uneasy about such a thing going on. We apply this sort of litmus test all across the political spectrum: whether it's Weasel Grassley refusing to give up the dirty Abramoff money or Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman accepting $40,000 from a filthy crook in Dallas.

Then the Political Forecast can't resist to totally lie about one of our positions:

As for State, first he wants to make sure felons never get their right to vote back because of what Roger Bentley did to Jetseta Gage. I don’t know what the problem is, because the guy is clearly going to jail for a long time and will probably never get back out. Of course her abduction, assault, and murder was a tragedy. Should that dictate how the politics of this process play out now, though?

Now State wants to keep felons from contributing to political campaigns — at least if they’re from out of state.

If you actually bothered to follow the link, you'd discover that we said nothing about banning felons from restoring their right to vote. In fact, our oldest contributor said this in November 2004:

I don't have any problem with restoring the voting rights of a felon who's paid his or her debt to society, unless of course they've been involved with voter fraud to any degree.

We'd amend that to include anybody convicted of a felony sex offense, mostly because so many voting locations are in schools. You don't want convicted sex offenders wandering into schools, even on election day.

Anyway, we've gotten off topic here.

We don't think it is ethically proper for a statewide candidate for public office to be accepting $40,000 from any individual. Period. That's way too much money.

We don't think it is ethically proper for statewide candidates to be accepting large amounts of money from individuals residing outside the state border. We're not saying that all out-of-state contributions should be banned. The limit should be greatly reduced.

We don't think statewide candidates should be accepting money from convicted criminals, especially those found guilty of insider trading and fined a million dollars. That's just wrong, wrong, wrong.

Finally, if you want to compare Iowa's campaign finance laws to that of other states, visit this web site. We like Montana and Vermont's laws. Even Kansas looks acceptable.

The Case Of Shanti Sellz

The case of Iowa City-native Shanti Sellz will be higher profile once her trial begins for felony transportation of illegal aliens. Some background from the Durango Herald:

It lasted only a few minutes. Enough time for a U.S. Border Patrol agent to pull over the beat-up hatchback, determine that the three men in back were illegal immigrants, and take the two young volunteers in front into custody. But that event on an isolated stretch of Arizona highway last summer has made those two activists icons in a national immigration debate.

"We were just doing what we thought was right - working within the law to make a difference," said Daniel Strauss, one of the activists.

Both Strauss and Durangoan Shanti Sellz were arrested by the Border Patrol last July for transporting three illegal immigrants in their car. The two volunteers claim they were taking their sick passengers to see a doctor at a church as part of a humanitarian effort known as No More Deaths, which provides water and medical aid to immigrants crossing the scorching Arizona desert...

Court documents show Strauss and Sellz passed two Border Patrol agents before being pulled over by a third, suggesting that prosecutors may contend that if the immigrants they were carrying really needed help, it was quickly at hand.

The Press-Citizen has been following the story, mostly because Sellz's parents live in Iowa City, and offers this ridiculously one-sided editorial today:

It certainly is possible -- maybe even probable -- that the people Sellz found were in need of medical attention. Many undocumented Mexican migrants simply have no idea how vast a desert they need to cross. The borderlands between the U.S. and Mexico are scattered with the bodies of migrants ill-prepared for their journey. Knowing that people have died in the past and will die in the future without some form of intervention, groups such as No More Deaths serve a necessary societal function. Even if the migrants are unaccounted for after receiving medical care, at least they are alive rather than left to roast in the desert.

U.S. border policy is, of course, complicated.

No, it's not.

From Mother Jones:

The Border Patrol, naturally, sees things rather differently. At a pre-trial hearing, the chief of the service’s Tucson sector, Michael Nicley, explained that he had introduced an explicit change of policy several months before the arrests requiring church groups and other humanitarian volunteers to inform the Border Patrol any time they wanted to lend assistance to sick migrants. This, he said, was something Sellz and Strauss did not do, and as far as he was concerned they deserved “no special dispensation.”

The U.S. magistrate presiding over the pre-trial proceedings, Judge Bernard P. Velasco, indicated strongly that his sympathies were on the government’s side. It was one thing to offer medical assistance in the desert, he said in a ruling denying a motion to dismiss the charges ahead of trial, but quite another to drive people into a big city. “The issue… is whether the illegal aliens treated at Southside Presbyterian Church and thereafter allowed to melt into Tucson, Arizona, have been assisted ‘in furtherance’ of their illegal entry,” he said. “The answer is yes.”

Register Editorial Board In Favor Of Screwing The Little Guy

You've come a long way baby.

The Des Moines Register Editorial Board doesn't want a law in Iowa that would forbid bribed politicians from condemning land and giving it to their benefactors under the guise of economic development or increased tax payments:

The Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Kelo vs. City of New London did not "open the floodgates" to government's ability to condemn private property for commercial development, as one lawmaker proclaimed. That's been the law since the 19th century, and it is up to states to assure it is used for the right reasons.

Condemnation is always a last resort. Everyone hates it. The process is expensive and time-consuming. There are times, however, when condemnation is the only option. Ownership can be difficult to track down or tied up in trusts. Sometimes, condemnation is in the owner's interest for tax purposes or because of potential liability for buried toxic wastes.

The Iowa Legislature has done a good job of protecting the rights of property owners. The process works. It worked before the Kelo decision. It will work in the future — if the Legislature doesn't try to fix it.

Absolute monopoly corporate power corrupts, doesn't it?

Basu On Legalized Bribery

Don't miss Rekha Basu's column in the Sunday Des Moines Register concerning legalized bribery of politicians.

Legalized Bribery

Charles J. Hamilton of Des Moines writes to the Register:

While I agree that the news in Iowa is important to us all, the biggest story, with current relevance, is how the U.S. House and Senate have legalized bribery and corruption as long as the money, flights and gifts are called campaign donations.

One lobbyist has given $5.4 million to 364 of our lawmakers. What about the other 3,800 lobbyists? Regardless of party, I would hope the Register would blow this story wide open.

Name who has taken what from whom, how legalized corruption taints the offices we vote for and how all our representatives are voting against us and for whoever has paid them for their votes.

We need to rid our system of corrupt politicians and change the campaign-contribution laws. These politicians should be going to jail.

Excellent letter.

The Register can't do anything about it. Until the politicians change the system, nothing can be done. We'll just have to pick the bastards off, one by one, until they're gone.

One way to do this is to get Iowa's rotten political disclosure system updated from the 1996-era technology it embraces. If the media, bloggers, and everyday people could easily track and expose who is giving how much to each politician, that would be a good start.

The Cocaine Of Gambling

From the Muscatine Journal:

John Kiwala is not a gambler. But when it comes to the two TouchPlay machines in his business, he takes a businessman’s view.

“We’ve got a booming restaurant in here, and I think it’s a great addition to the store. Money stays in the state and it brings in customers,” said Kiwala, owner of Island Convenience store on Grandview Avenue, which also features the Island Grill.

“People gamble, they always have and they always will. This makes it convenient for them. They’re here, and they don’t have to drive all the way to Davenport to go to a casino.”

A couple things, Mr Kiwala and all you others who think a slot machine on every corner in Iowa is positive thing:

First, Muscatine County rejected gaming in 1996. It was a 2-to-1 vote against it after originally approving it and getting a riverboat in 1991.

Second, TouchPlay Slottery machines were supposedly a replacement for pull-tabs.

Third, people frequent prostitutes and always will. Should you put a fucking brothel in your restaurant if the Iowa Legislature legalizes prostitution?

How To Mess With Pro-Filibuster-Alito Chain Faxing Services

A reader emailed to let us know that he discovered a pro-filibuster faxing service designed to send a chain fax to 10 Democratic and 2 Republican Senators which urges them to filibuster SCOTUS nominee Samuel Alito.

The funny thing about this service is that SaveTheCourt.org's chain fax can be altered quite radically. Here is the chain fax they offer to send on your behalf:

Subject: Filibuster Alito

Samuel Alito’s record is clear, and so is the threat posed by his nomination: presidential power unchecked by judicial oversight; Congress stripped of much of its ability to protect the environment; Americans stripped of their right to privacy and subject to abuses of corporate and government power.

I understand that the filibuster is not a tool to be used trivially. Alito is not a trivial threat. Stand up for your Senate, stand up for the Constitution, and stand up for we, the people. I ask you to filibuster Samuel Alito’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court.

And here is what our enterprising reader changed it to read before clicking the Send Now button:

Subject: DON'T Filibuster Alito

Samuel Alito’s record is clear, and so is the threat posed by killers like Ted Kennedy and plagiarists like Joe Biden: Senatorial power unchecked by judicial oversight; Bush stripped of much of its ability to protect the country; terrorists stripped of their right to talk about terrorism with foreign subjects.

I understand that the filibuster is not a tool to be used trivially. Alito is not a threat. Stand up for the People, stand up for the Constitution, and stand up for we, the people who hacked into SaveTheCourt.org's system. I ask you to NOT filibuster Samuel Alito’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court.

You didn't really hack anything, but this is rather amusing. Thanks for providing us a copy of the confirmation email in order to prove that this went through. The pseudonym you put down was also funny, but we won't mention it here. You've got to wonder if "that person" living at "715 Locust" in Des Moines is going to start getting all sorts of junk mail addressed to them. Nothing like good juvenile fun at somebody else's expense.

Movin On Up

A reader writes:

How about writing up the hullabaloo about the search process for the new University of Iowa President?

Facts -

1) Skorton left under a lot of speculation about problems with Vilsack, Gartner, and Forsythe

2) Skorton was extremely popular (not to mention effective) at the University and with alumni/donors and legislators

3) Now Gartner attempts to institute the same strong-arm practices (remember NBC?) at the Regents that he is known for in the search process for a new President

4) Gartner is controlling information flow within the Board and Board office - other board members can't be entirely happy

5) Other board members have been told not to communicate with the university constituency representative groups about the search process

Who do you think is pulling the strings on this one? My guess is Vilsack. Regardless, the process seems to have incensed the faculty at the University of Iowa. If they're having enough trouble keeping professors (like Skorton) given higher wages elsewhere, what do you think a belief that there is an overpowering president of the Board of Regents controlling the universities for Vilsack's political purposes will do?

Vilsack's exiting to DC. What does he care? He'll either end up in the White House (unlikely), get a Cabinet position (only if Hitlery wins), or secure some high-paying lobbying job (a sure thing).

As for Gartner, he is the head of the Board of Regents. Picking the next presidents of UNI and Iowa is something he's going to want to have a hand in. It almost makes sense to have the Regents do this rather than hire some consulting firm in Texas again and pay them a few hundred thousand dollars to look at the same resumes.

As for Skorton, well let's put it this way:

Say you're making about $300,000 a year running a big institution with thousands of employees, about 30,000 students, one accused rapist/basketball player, a bunch of animal rights terrorist fascists who trash your labs and send threatening letters to your professors, and deal with a controversy solely based on some far-out lefty imported law professorette who allowed anonymous comments on her blog after ranting about pink walls.

And say that your wife is an associate professor earning less than $90,000 a year. You get an offer to run an Ivy League school with 10,000 fewer students, an endowment bigger than John Holmes, a cushy professor position for your wife at the same school, and combined salaries of over $1 million a year.

What would you do?

We think the answers to all of this reside in the lyrics to the song Movin' On Up, the theme song of the 70s TV show The Jeffersons:

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin'
Just to get up that hill.
Now we're up in the big leagues
Gettin' our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it's you and me baby
There ain't nothin wrong with that.

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Pork Queen

From Business 2.0's 2005's 101 Dumbest Moments In Business:

63. "The Other White Meat Queen" probably wouldn't fit on the sash.

The Iowa Pork Producers Association announces that it may retire a contest used to promote its product -- due to the lack of interest among young Iowa women in being designated "Pork Queen." These days, surprisingly, only a handful of hopefuls enter the porcine pageant, which started back in 1960.

University Of Iowa Sexual Harassment Report

From Radio Iowa:

A new report on sexual harassment at the University of Iowa found few big changes from the last report in 1992. Nancy Hauserman is an associate dean of the business college and one of the co-chairs of the committee that conducted the study covering 2004. She says there was somewhat of a difference in the number of people who said they had experienced "unwelcome behavior" from 55-percent in 1992 to 52-percent in 2004.

Hauserman says the change was more notable in another area. She says there's about a ten percent increase in the number of people who reported sexual harassment...

Hauserman says one disappointing finding is that more people reported this time around that they were not aware of the university's sexual harassment policy. She says sometimes people don't even know they can get help and don't know what is considered a problem, so they don't think help is available.

It's hardly a surprise, considering that it wasn't very long ago that the University of Iowa was hostile to Professor Jean Y. Jew's complaint of sexual harassment against a colleague.

A reminder of what Professor Jew went through:

In 1985, Jean Y. Jew, an associate professor in the anatomy department of the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the University of Iowa in U.S. District Court. Jew alleged that she had been victimized by a hostile working environment for twelve years and denied a promotion to full professorship on the basis of sex. Jew also filed a lawsuit in Johnson County District Court against her colleague, Robert Tomanek, charging him with slander and defamation of character. Jew won both suits. In June 1990, a jury found Tomanek guilty of slander and ordered him to pay Jew $35,000 in compensation. In August 1990, U.S. District Judge Harold Vietor upheld Jew’s claims against the University. He ordered the University to promote Jew to full professor, compensate her with back pay, and provide an environment free of sexual harassment. When the University of Iowa decided to appeal the ruling, concerned faculty and staff members organized the Jean Jew Justice Committee (JJJC) in October 1990.

The JJJC was steered by Martha Chamallas, law professor and chair of women’s studies, and Margery Wolf, a professor of anthropology. The JJJC had several aims. First, it hoped to pressure the University of Iowa into dropping the appeal. The committee also wanted to educate the University community about sexual harassment in the collegiate workplace and to build a coalition of faculty, staff, and community activists who would vocally oppose any form of sexual harassment at the University. And finally, the members of the JJJC wanted to demonstrate their support for a colleague.

The JJJC met frequently between October 1990 and February 1991. Members communicated privately with various high-level administrators. Publicly, they distributed informational leaflets, held university-wide forums, and published their views in local and regional newspapers. In November 1990, the University reached an agreement with Jew and dropped its appeal...

The court records consist of three documents. The first is an application for fees filed by Jew's attorney Carolyn Chalmers, which argues that the University should pay Jew’s legal fees of nearly one million dollars. Disagreement on this point was one of the main reasons the University decided to appeal the decision. The second document is the defendants’ proposed finding of facts. This document (often referred to as a brief) was prepared by Thomas Miller, Iowa’s attorney general, who represented the defendants: the University of Iowa and the Board of Regents; it presents the facts of the case from the University’s point of view. The third document is the memorandum of opinion issued by Judge Vietor in which he finds the University guilty. Judge Vietor reached this conclusion by applying the legal definition of sexual harassment established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Meritor Savings Bank v Vinson in 1986 and using a five part test established by the Eighth Circuit in Hall v Gus Construction Co. in 1988. Judge Vietor ordered the university to take several measures to compensate Jew for past wrongs, including a retroactive promotion to full professor, back pay, and "all reasonable steps to assure a hostility-free work environment."

Bum Rush The Slottery Machines

From John Carlson in today's Des Moines Register:

Muscatine County couldn't have sent a clearer message about gambling.

While Iowans were trampling one another trying to land gambling casinos, the residents of this Mississippi River county said no 10 years ago. The vote was 9,656 against bringing slot machines, blackjack and craps tables to the county.

Only 4,764 said yes to a promise that 600,000 gamblers a year would come to Muscatine's riverfront. They didn't care that it meant losing maybe $1 million a year that would have helped pay for community projects.

Casino-style gambling would not come to the city of nearly 23,000 people. They'd seen it briefly in 1991 and didn't like it. So in 1996, they followed the law and voted to keep a new casino with its slots and tables far away.

Turns out it didn't matter all that much. The state of Iowa — specifically the Iowa Lottery — has installed dozens of slot machines in the county. And more are on the way. Lottery officials deny they're slot machines, you know. They say they merely are an electronic way to distribute lottery chances.

I don't know anybody who believes that. Especially in Muscatine County.

In the city of Muscatine, 23 convenience stores, bars and supermarkets have the TouchPlay machines. Seven more locations, including a laundry and a pool hall, have them on order.

They're in seven businesses up the road in West Liberty, including the country club. Two other places have ordered them.

There are three in Wilton, and two more to come. Atalissa, population 283, has two. Nichols, population 372, has one in a tavern and another on the way to a convenience store. Even tiny Moscow — no official population listed because it is unincorporated — has one.

That's 49 locations in a largely rural county that said no to slot machines.

"The lottery people say they're not slot machines," said Robert Miller of Muscatine, head of the Truth About Gambling Foundation. "That's ridiculous. But there's an argument over it. Fine. I think it's time the citizens of Muscatine County sued the state of Iowa. Let's have the court decide. We voted it down in Muscatine County. The state brought the machines here. I think that's worthy of a court determination."

Allen Kiddoo, owner of a Muscatine printing business the last 25 years, thinks a lawsuit is a fine idea. He was convinced something needed to be done when he walked into a drugstore last week and saw something he says made him sick.

"Here was this woman standing next to one of the machines," Kiddoo said. "She's got this small child with her, I'd guess 4 or 5 years old. The child was putting dollar bills into the machine and she was punching the buttons. This is worse than what we thought we were voting out. Video slot machines are all over the county."

If counties and cities start suing the State over this, it's going to get ugly.

We would not be surprised if a bunch of anti-gambling activists, religious types, or gambling addicts band together and bum rush some slottery machines with sledgehammers. That would send a message, wouldn't it? You'd probably see all these bought-and-paid-for members of the Iowa Legislature freaking out and crafting new laws that put anybody convicted of destroying a slottery machine away for a lot longer than drunk drivers who kill. That's how corrupt this state has become.

Roundup On The Cedar Rapids Bowhunting Season

Radio talk show host Greg Alan had a lengthy post earlier in the week on the bowhunting season in Cedar Rapids. From the stats he provided via the Cedar Rapids Gazette, it looks like it was a considerable success in reducing numbers of deer and deer-car crashes.

Alan also mentions now-former Cedar Rapids City Council member Wade Wagner, perhaps one of the dumbest elected officials ever to walk upright in Iowa, who last year remarked that "deer are as tame as pet dogs."

Perhaps Wagner would like to explain what the hell he was talking about to the Princeton couple who were seriously injured after a wild deer they had been feeding over a long period of time attacked them.

We also remember the rantings of the clearly-unhinged Laurie Crawford Stone, who said:

If your neighbors allows bowhunters on their land or you live near city property allowing hunters, an errant arrow may hit your child, cat, dog or house. There is a good chance you or your children will see dead or dying deer in your yard.

It is irresponsible to allow hunting in a high-density urban area. Hunting is likely to increase deer/vehicle accidents in Cedar Rapids as frightened deer run onto roadways.

None of that appears to have happened.

Also, don't forget the terrorism associated with the bowhunting season in Cedar Rapids. Stand up and speak out in favor of hunting to cull herd numbers and you'll end up with ice picks in your tires and paint thrown on your car by those animal rights fascist terrorists.

Matt, Did You Get My Package?

From Radio Iowa:

Senate Democrats want to force Iowa businesses to give employees who are parents up to 20 hours of unpaid leave each year so those parents can attend a child's school activity. Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the research shows kids perform better when their parents are involved at school. McCoy says a 1997 National Education Statistic Center study found children are three times more likely to succeed in school if their parents are involved with the teachers in the classroom.

What? In an orgy?

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Don't businesses succeed when their employees are working? Maybe McCoy has been in State Government for too long to understand this.

By the way, is Matt McCoy a dead ringer for the actor Steve Carell from the US version of "The Office" or what?



No doubt that McCoy's bill stinks so bad that perhaps he'll need some new carpet in his office before long.

Influence Peddling

From The Economist:

Lobbying can't be banned—Americans have a constitutional right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances”. And they have an awful lot of grievances. For instance, Ted Townsend, a meat-packing tycoon, is aggrieved that his home state of Iowa has no indoor rainforest. He's been pitching the idea for several years: it would be “the coolest new attraction on Earth”, not to mention a “goose that will lay enormous golden eggs” for Iowa.

In 2003, Mr Townsend gave $3,000 in campaign contributions to his Republican senator, Chuck Grassley. The next year Mr Grassley secured $50m from the federal budget for Mr Townsend's rainforest. There was absolutely nothing illegal about this. Mr Grassley was entitled to accept Mr Townsend's cash, and he no doubt sincerely believes that an indoor rainforest will benefit Iowa.This story illustrates why influence-peddling is such a problem. Individual lawmakers have immense power to take money out of the public purse for the narrowest of purposes. Any one of them can slip an extra paragraph into a bill to secure funding for a project that may have nothing to do with the bill's stated purpose. Such “earmarks” are often inserted at the last moment and pass without scrutiny.

And then there's this from the home office on 10th Street:

State Representative and gubernatorial candidate Ed Fallon (D-Des Moines) held a press conference at the Capitol Thursday afternoon to discuss how Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge's campaign finance disclosure reports show the need for a Clean Elections Law in Iowa.

"Patty's report, quite frankly, troubles me quite a bit," Fallon said. "All across Iowa, family farmers and rural residents are deeply concerned about the growing power of corporate hog confinement operators. It's disturbing to see such a large amount of money coming from these groups to one candidate."

Judge's 2005 campaign contributions included $10,000 from Alina and Peter DeCoster, another $10,000 from Leah and Sholom Rubashkin of AgriProcessors, as well as contributions from Syngenta, Monsanto and Dow Agro Sciences.

"I think Patty Judge would say these contributions are completely legal, and they are," Fallon said. "The problem is the rules allow influence-peddling at a level that most Iowans are only beginning to become aware of. It's perfectly legal, but is it ethical? I think not."

Fallon said he will continue to alert the media to his findings in the reports of other candidates in the coming weeks.

"I would ask the public to be very vigilant about this, and to learn who is donating to the other candidates," Fallon said. "The influence of big money in politics affects every other issue, and is really the critical issue in this campaign."

Fallon should be calling on the Iowa Legislature to update our rotten political disclosure system that uses 1996-era technology.

It looks like Fallon's battle with Patty Judge appears to be the first in a series of press conferences to highlight the potential problem of influence peddling in state-wide politics. Our earlier guess as to why he was picking on a candidate who is the ropes appears to have been wrong. Looks like Ed has a plan.

So What You're Saying Is: Republicans Are Dummies

Elizabeth Noyes of Iowa City, writing to the Press-Citizen:

In response to Thomas Miller's letter ("Call for diversity is insincere," Jan. 24), perhaps the fact that "Republicans constitute less than 10 percent of the education and administration staffs" in our universities nationwide tells us more about Republicans than the sincerity of the diversity policies of our nation's universities.

Academic careers require a tremendous investment of time and money and a commitment to mastering a field of study. An academic career requires one to participate in scholarly discussion that challenges ideas, demands critical thinking and often redefines long-held viewpoints. This process is necessary to produce university professors capable of teaching their students to be analytical thinkers.

This dialectical process, by its nature, examines all angles and aspects of issues. University professors, trained in this process in their preparation to teach at the college level, are just doing their jobs when they promote discussions that examine all sides of issues, political or otherwise.

Let's not substitute political sentiment and loyalty for critical debate on important national issues in our university classrooms. And remember, Republicans are as free to pursue academic careers as are Democrats.

Elitist Noyes noise, if you ask us.

Vilsack's Multiple BlackBerry Dilemma

A couple weeks ago we noted from Dorman's column that Governor Vilsack has two BlackBerry devices at his disposal for mobile email contact.

Then today we discovered this in the Des Moines Register:

A federal judge on Wednesday set a Feb. 24 hearing date to consider a possible injunction on BlackBerry wireless e-mail service. The Supreme Court decided this week not to intervene in the patent-infringement case being heard by U.S. District Judge James Spencer. An injunction could block BlackBerry e-mail use among many of the estimated 3 million U.S. device owners.

More history in this PC Magazine article.

Gee, what happens if the service is stopped because of a patent-infringement? You've got to wonder how many State employees have been issued these BlackBerry devices.


Update: A reader points us to this article:

So with the Patent Office and the judiciary at loggerheads, what happens? The Justice Department filed a "statement of interest" this week asking the judge to make sure his ruling doesn't shut down BlackBerry service because "it is imperative that some mechanism be incorporated that permits continuity of the federal government's use of BlackBerry devices." The filing estimates that 50,000 to 200,000 government employees use BlackBerrys -- and not all of them shiny-shoe Justice Department lawyers, either, but some emergency-management and anti-terrorism people, too.

Priorities, Priorities

From the home office on 10th Street:

FALLON PRESS CONFERENCE AT CAPITOL THURSDAY

State Representative and gubernatorial candidate Ed Fallon (D-Des Moines) will hold a press conference Thursday afternoon to show how current fundraising results by another gubernatorial candidate, Patty Judge, show the need for a Clean Elections Law in Iowa. Judge’s 2005 fundraising reports show donations from several agricultural interests, including $20,000 from two members of the DeCoster family and $5000 from the political action committee for Smithfield Foods.

“All across Iowa, family farmers and rural residents are equally concerned about the growing power of corporate hog confinement operators,” Fallon said. “Iowans should be deeply concerned about the influence these interests are trying to buy through Secretary Judge’s campaign.”

It would be one thing to hold a press conference about this if Patty Judge was actually doing better than Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman or Deacon Blouin in the polls, but she's not. According to reports from the caucuses, Judge's grassroots support was seriously lacking. And her financial disclosure reports showed that she's not doing so well.

Note to the Fallon campaign: When lesser candidates are waning, let them fall. Don't waste your time with this sort of trivial navel-gazing. You'd be a whole lot better off assembling the press to trumpet what one of your own staff members found.

Raising Taxes Saves Lives

Now we've heard it all.

According to State Represenatative David Jacoby of Coralville, a $1 a pack tax increase on cigarettes will "save lives."

If that's the case, why not raise the tax to $5 a pack? Won't we save more lives that way?

How about just banning tobacco products? That would save even more lives until everybody starting killing one another in order to stop jonesin' from having a nic fit.

Here's another article about this in the QC Times by Todd Dorman.

And what happened to all the money that AG Tom Miller and former Governor Terry Braindead scammed and extorted out of the tobacco companies, ostensibly to pay for smoking-related costs paid for by state government? It's being fraudulently used to dredge lakes and fund Christopher Rants's pet projects all over Iowa.

Talk about "repeatedly and systematically misleading the public."

Too bad the leaders of these student governments at the three major universities in Iowa are all a bunch of bend-over ass clowns. If these brown-nosing, pro-tax-raise-on-the-poor types really had their shit together, they'd be asking Iowa's politicians why the hell they didn't spend that extortion money in 1999 on smoking-cessation programs for Iowans.

When's Iowa Going To Start Taxing Those USB-Powered Vaginas?

In 2004, a lot of members of the Iowa Legislature (mostly Democrats) wanted to impose a 25% tax on the sale of such adult store novelties as dildos.

Now, via Slashdong.org, comes the story that a company is marketing a USB-powered vagina. (Link is work-safe, but beyond that you should be careful.) Nurse Nicci is at your service in 24 different positions thanks to an enclosed CD-ROM.

Maybe the Iowa Legislature is trying to get on top of all the action by bills such as SF 2071, which restrict the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.

Here's how the bill defines the term sexually explicit video game. Take a deep breath and make sure you say this longer-than-Lexington-Steele sentence out loud in the manner of some Southern Baptist Fire And Brimstone Preacha:

The bill defines "sexually explicit video game" to mean a video game that the average person applying contemporary community standards would find, with respect to minors, is designed to appeal or pander to the prurient interest and depict or represent in a manner patently offensive, with respect to minors, an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, an actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual act, or lewd exhibitions of the genitals or postpubescent female breast.

Nothing about any USB-powered vaginas in this bill. Perhaps it needs to be amended about three inches to include the language needed in order to seal the deal.

Iowa Electronic Markets On The Iowa Guv Race?

We haven't heard from the Iowa Electronic Markets web site in a while. They've been famous for past markets like the Bush/Kerry race in 2004.

Too bad they don't have one concerning the latest Iowa gubernatorial race. Until then we'll just have to use our skillz with a stock-picking web site like this one. It's all for charity, you know.

Tax Update Blog On The Richard Hatch Conviction

The Tax Update Blog has the skinny on first Survivor winner Richard Hatch's conviction on tax evasion charges and guesses at what his sentence will be.

Suspended And Waived

Notice anything in these Cerro Gordo County District Court decisions?

Operating while under the influence (third offense) — Gene Leroy Emrud, 39, Meservey; up to five years in prison (suspended), $2,500 fine, 35 days in jail, three years probation and driving priveleges revoked for six years.

First-degree harassment — Thomas Harry Osborn, 33, Mason City; one year in jail (355 days suspended), two years probation and $500 fine.

Possession of marijuana — Mitchell Cody Servantez, 20, Mason City; two days in jail.

Credit card forgery — Matthew Coe Bailey, 29, Waterloo; up to two years in prison (suspended), $500 fine, 18 months probation.

Conspiracy — Demetrius Armandra Johnson, 20, Mason City; up to five years in prison (suspended), $750 fine (suspended), three years probation, must reside at Beje Clark Residential Facility for 180 days and must pay $409 court costs.

Possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine — Charles Gene Barnish, 30, Mason City; up to 10 years in prison (suspended), $1,000 fine (suspended), five years probation; driving privileges revoked for 180 days and must reside at Beje Clark Residential Facility for 180 days.

Driving while revoked — Troy Allen Burtis, 22, Mason City; $1,000 fine ($750 suspended) and driving privileges revoked for 180 days.

Driving while barred — Wyatt Eugene Jacobs, 22, Mason City; seven days in jail and $500 fine (suspended).

Operating under the influence — Todd Allan Ricke, 29, Mason City; two days in jail and $1,000 fine (waived).

Possession of marijuana — Robert Lee Lopez, 35, Mason City; two days in jail (credit for time already served), $100 fine and driving privileges are revoked for 180 days.

Driving while barred — Casii-Adair William Calaway, 23, Clear Lake; 180 days in jail (159 days suspended), $500 fine (suspended) and one-year probation.

The two potheads didn't get their jail terms suspended or waived, but practically every other criminal did.

The Scarlet Letter Of Drunk Driving

Heather Bovy of Hudson has a suggestion in her letter to the Waterloo Courier:

How would you like to get drunken drivers off the road? The bill we are trying to pass, similar to Minnesota's law, states that for any first-time conviction of drinking and driving laws one gets a different colored license plate for three years. If they do not violate the law again they will be able to remove the plate and get back their original license plates. If the person commits a second offense then the plates will stay on for the rest of their lives. The plate should be a bright neon color, something that stands out to the officers. This will allow officers the right to pull one over at any time they feel there could be a problem. Register your opinion at drunkdrivers06@yahoo.com

Sounds like a good idea.

We'd like to amend the above to include that third-time convicted drunk drivers should permanently lose their right to drive. If caught behind the wheel after that point, they should spend the rest of their lives in prison. Screw them. Time to get medieval.

The Fly Is Back

Great news!!!

The Daily Davenport Politics blog, run by The Fly, is back:

Crappy Campaign Disclosures

I'm in total agreement about getting these things into the 21st century.

In the meantime, it looks like it's up to us bloggers/activist citizens to monitor this stuff. For instance, I'm busy pestering one of my local legislators

My primary reason for writing is to suggest that Iowa political bloggers in general might want to encourage readers and each other to be viligent about examining these filings and calling the IECDB's attention to errors and omissions.

Keep up the good work!

F

(heavy sarcasm:)

Yes, McFly, but you're an anonymous blogger, so your opinion doesn't count. Who are you??? What is your agenda???? What's your Social Security Number? Have you ever sympathized with any Republican plan or policy in your entire life? How dare you bring up a sensitive issue anonymously. Don't you know that publishing things anonymously has been historically un-American.

(sarcasm over)

TouchPlay Slottery Machines And Gambling Addicts

The DMR has a big story today on how the TouchPlay Slottery machines are tempting gambling addicts:

For Julie Muto, the lure of TouchPlay machines caused her to visit a quick-loan business in December where she obtained $200 after putting up her car title as collateral. Then she headed to Des Moines' south side, where she indulged herself in a TouchPlay machine. She lost $190, but on her final $10, she won a $1,000 jackpot.

Muto had to visit Iowa Lottery headquarters to claim the money. She was stunned when state officials seized the entire $1,000 for back child support and restitution for a previous gambling-related forgery conviction in Warren County. She said she begged for the money because she wanted to go to a casino and gamble, but she left empty-handed.

What can you say about this? It's just sad.

Did anybody who was around in 1972 when Iowans voted to repeal Article III and Section 28 of the Iowa Constitution ("No lottery shall be authorized by this state nor shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed.") ever envision what we have today?

From the Iowa Legislative Guide To Gambling In Iowa:

Following repeal of the constitutional lottery prohibition, the General Assembly proceeded in 1973 to authorize games of chance such as bingo and raffles which could be conducted by specified organizations and individuals. Thereafter, pari-mutuel wagering at horse and dog racetracks was authorized in 1983; a state lottery was authorized in 1985; excursion boat gambling was authorized in 1989; and slot machines were authorized at the pari-mutuel racetracks in 1994.

It's the slippery slope.

We wonder just how far Ed Stanek and the Iowa Legislature (minus Ed Fallon) are going to push things before a roving band of disobedient religious types and gambling addicts burst into grocery stores wielding sledgehammers and bashing the hell out of a couple of TouchPlay machines in order to make a point. We'd love to see the politicians freak out after something like that happens.


Related: Iowa Touch'n'Play Brothels

Iowa's War Against Youth

Vilsack declares war on teen drivers.

The Iowa Legislature wants to declare war on teenagers who play video games.

How To Drive Up The Cost Of College In Iowa

This is an incredibly bad idea:

A group of Democratic lawmakers presented legislation Monday that would help pay a portion of college tuition for low-income students who keep up their grades and stay out of trouble.

"We're very hopeful this program will get legs and pass this year," said Rep. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, one of the bill's architects. "The program will teach our students about personal responsibility, increase parent involvement in education and reward students who work hard and play by the rules."

The proposal is modeled after a scholarship program in Indiana, and is aimed at increasing the number of children who go to college.

The measure targets seventh and eighth graders who are eligible for free or reduced priced lunches, or who are in the state's foster care system.

Those students sign an agreement to maintain a "C" average, avoid drugs, alcohol and brushes with the law.

In exchange, the state will pay the difference between the cost of tuition and the amount of state and federal student aid a student receives. Eligible students would be able to go to a community college, one of the state's public universities or a private college.

On what planet does a private college, much less a state university, accept any high school student with a 2.0 GPA? If they do accept some kid with a 2.0 GPA it's only because they're going to be a full-ride athlete.

Here's more:

A pair of ISU students said they thought the measure would help level the playing field for all Iowans who want college degrees.

"Sounds like a cool idea to me," said Bradey McDeid, a senior in liberal studies. "I think there's too much inequality in this world, and people born into shitty circumstances often have a hard time opening up opportunities, whether it's because they're from a poor family or they don't have a family at all."

McDeid said he thought the requirements for staying out of legal trouble were unfair

Naturally, they're going to find some bed-wetting liberal moron douchebag like Bradey McDeid who thinks some C-average kid who's been in trouble with the law should get his or her college paid for by Iowa taxpayers. We're surprised that Bradey isn't upset that they're imposing a minimum C-average. What about all the poor high school graduates with a D-average? Why aren't we paying for them?

If this insane bill passes then how is this thing paid for? Who does the background checks? Will it be the already-overworked registrars at every college and university in Iowa? Do they include juvenile court records?

Is a C-average student even ready for college? No way!

Will colleges and universities want to take in these lowball students because the student is getting "free money" plus it's a good chance that the student will drop out within the next few years? You bet.

And what happens when students get a ton of free money for college? Tuition skyrockets for everybody else.

Here's the bill: House File 2101

Here are the legislators who sponsored HF 2101:

• Janet Peterson
• Lisa Heddens
• Philip Wise
• Mark Smith
• Kurt Swaim
• Roger Thomas
• John Whitaker
• Ro Foege
• Mike Reasoner
• Donovan Olson
• Mark Kuhn
• Nathan Bowtie
• Marcella Frevert
• Mary Gaskill
• Dawn Pettengill
  

The Iowa State Daily Doesn't Know What They're Talking About

From an Iowa State Daily editorial:

Quicker than a politician's thumbs-up at a photo-op, both Democrats and Republicans are unveiling plans for "reform" after Jack Abramoff's fall from grace and the recognition of rampant corruption in the Washington lobbying industry...


We're lucky Iowa has some of the best open records laws in the country. Such laws allow Cityview to monitor local governments and keep them in check. We need the same at the national level. We encourage Congress to appoint an independent, nonpartisan panel to devise stringent new rules on lobbying, with an emphasis on transparency at every level. And when such controls are in place, the media must step up and take advantage of that transparency with Cityview-like investigation and publication of lobbyist-government interaction.

What the Iowa State Daily doesn't realize is that Iowa has the worst method for trying to determine what individual or PAC gave money to all the state-wide candidates thanks to their lame-ass "pen, paper, scanner, and PDF" system that has "1994 technology" written all over it.

And why should the media be the investigators of such information? Why can't any Iowan play connect-the-dots from some web site and publish their findings in a blog? The Political Madman did it with Chet Culver, but it wasn't easy work. What took him 6 hours by perusing a lengthy set of PDFs should have taken anybody about 15 minutes with the right kind of searchable database in place.

State 29 Is Changing, Maybe

In the next week we're adding another contributor. Doing this may not translate into more posts because our main cranky guy is scaling back due to work and school demands.

We've been thinking about pushing the blog in the direction of connecting history with modern events, like today's post on coal mining or a past post on oil drilling, rather than trolling newspapers or other blogs for daily reaction.

That doesn't mean we'll be ignoring all the stupid op-eds and letters, much less the political races. But after a while all that gets boring. We're looking for some way to recharge our batteries.

Harkin At Coal Mine Safety Hearings And Some History

From Ohio News:

...the US Senate opened hearings Monday on mine safety. At the top of the list are stiffer penalties for mine violations and better equipment for miners.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says, "Seven-hundred-fifty bucks per miner to be able to have communications, twenty bucks to tell us where they are. It seems to me this is the investments we ought to be making."

Coal mining used to be one of the biggest industries in Iowa until the 1920s. The work attracted immigrants from England, Wales, Sweden, Croatia, Italy, and other countries to Iowa.

Despite Iowa's long history with coal, none has been mined in Iowa since 1995.

Here's a web page that tells the story of a coal mine explosion that caused the deaths of five people in Lovilla in 1953:

At the time of the explosion, which occured about 4p.m., two shot firers,one of them the mine foreman, were the only men in the mine, and both were killed. The three other victims, two of them foremans from neighboring mines, were members of a party of five who entered the mine about 9 p.m., the same day, reportedly to investigate the explosion. They died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Statements by one of the survivors made it clear that none of the party knew that a flame safety lamp cannot detect dangerous concentrations of carbon monoxide.

"The needless death of those three men", Director Forbes said,"points out the danger of entering a mine after an explosion before a proper rescue and recovery organization has been set up and without proper protective equipment. A flame safety lamp, as experienced mining men know, is used to detect methane, an explosive gas, and to indicate oxygen deficiency, but it must not be used to detect carbon monoxide. We used to have alot of cases in the old days when many lives were sacrificed during rescue and recovery operations after mine explosions. Personally I have not encountered a case like that at Lovilia for about 25 years. It shows how extremely important it is for mining men to learn accident-prevention and mine-rescue procedures, and I hope that this tragic occurence will lead more of them to take advantage of the training along those lines that the bureau offers."

The factors causing this disaster were recognized by a federal coal mine inspector during his regular inspection of the mine in October of 1952, Forbes continued. At that time he issued notices requiring that the use of black blasting powder discontinued and that the mine be properly rock dusted in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act. However, before further steps could be taken to ensure these requirements, the company secured an injuction prohibiting the federal inspector from taking such action.

Ironically, the case was dismissed 3 days before the explosion. Notice of this action, recieved at the Duluth office of the Bureau of Mines, at 2 p.m., on March 31--the day after the explosion-- gave the bureau its first official, written knowledge that the injuction was no longer in force.

"However", says the report of the Bureau's investigation, "About noon on March 31, 1953, the Chief Counsel, bureau of Mines, washington D.C., called the assistant United States Attorney in Iowa about the Bureau's right, in view of the injunction, to have federal inspectors enter the O'Brien mine to investigate the disaster. During the conversations, the Chief Counsel of the Bureau of Mines, was advised that the injunction had been dissolved on March 27, 1953".

Vasquez-Vasquez-Vasquez-Vasquez

From WHO-TV:

The driver of a passenger-packed minivan involved in a deadly accident near Des Moines last year has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison.

Twenty-five-year-old Carlos Alberto Vasquez-Vasquez of Mexico pleaded guilty to transporting illegal immigrants. He was sentenced last Friday in U-S District Court in Des Moines. The U-S attorney's office says he will be deported once he serves his time.

Vasquez-Vasquez was driving a van carrying nine other illegal immigrants when the van was rear-ended by a semi on Interstate 80 last March.

Three people in the van were killed.

Can we implant a RFID chip or some kind of GPS tracking device in Mr Vasquez-Vasquez-Vasquez-Vasquez's body? He'll be back, you know.

Ed Fallon Writes A Letter

To the Des Moines Register:

I write to clarify my position on the new TouchPlay lottery machines, as reported in the Register Jan. 12 ("Candidates Want Machines Removed"). I support the governor's moratorium preventing further proliferation of these devices, and I'm eager to see what conclusions his task force reaches.

I have always firmly opposed expanded gambling. The Iowa Lottery's introduction of TouchPlay machines clearly broadens the scope and availability of gambling. The eventual impact of this expansion on families, communities and taxpayers is significant and highly detrimental.

I understand the position of small-business owners who want the opportunity to display these machines to try to capture some of the revenue lost to casinos. There's no doubt that the state's economic-development initiatives neglect the interests of small-business owners. But another significant expansion of gambling is certainly not the answer.

Gambling isn't economic development. It isn't adding to Iowa's wealth and vitality, but merely moving the furniture around.

You mean "Moving the old and ratty furniture around while Ed Stanek and Tom Vilsack come along every now and then and take a major piece away for themselves and on behalf of corporate welfare."

An Apology, Sort Of

A followup from a reader:

I apologize for calling you an ass. I should have simply pointed out that you are more interested in smearing me (probably because I'm a liberal) than in dealing with content. I did not plagiarize. I do admit to using the services of Million Phone March to send a letter to my Congress people and to the Globe-Gazette. I did not "copy" or "borrow" the offending paragraph. I wrote my own comments, which were appended onto the opening paragraph provided by Million Phone March. I note that they have since changed their procedures, sending only a "vote" to Congressmen on issues, and sending only our personally written comments to the editor. This is a welcome change, since the service provided is valuable...

So you used a preconfigured chain letter, like all the dolts from MoveOn.org have done in the past? That's lame. Since you didn't attribute somebody else's words in your letter, that's plagiarism. Look up the definition yourself.

Some newspaper editors miss the occasional chain letter. But when a newspaper like the Washington Post gets 1828 versions of the same thing, usually within a short period of time, do you think that they don't catch on? Come on! Be more original next time.

Iowa County Attorneys Association Are Against The 2000 Foot Sex Offender Law

From the Des Moines Register:

The state’s prosecutors urged lawmakers Monday to eliminate a requirement that convicted sex offenders live more than 2,000 feet from a school or day care center.

The Iowa County Attorneys Association said the restriction makes it virtually impossible for offenders to find housing in virtually every city in the state, and does little to protect children.

The group said the restriction ‘‘does not provide the protection that was originally intended and that the cost of enforcing the requirement and the unintended effects of families of offenders warrants replacing the restriction with more effective protective measures.’’

Was Ed Fallon right, or what?

But some people never learn:

‘‘We’re going to have a debate on this issue,’’ said House Speaker Chris Rants, R-Sioux City. ‘‘I don’t see a groundswell of support for removing the 2,000-foot requirement. I do hear from a lot of parents who support the 2,000-foot rule.’’

What about 4000 feet? Will that protect children twice as much?

How about following Governor Yepsen's lead and declaring the entire state off-limits to all sex offenders, but not armed robbers or drug dealers or murderers. Yeah, that's the ticket.

You Are An Ass

A reader writes:

You Are An Ass

Calling me a plagiarist on a public venue, while remaining anonymous yourself, is a cowardly and stupid act. But what else can one expect from the brainwashed right?

--
Shoshana

Last month we observed Shoshana Edwards-Jemison of Mason City writing a letter to the editor of the Mason City Globe Gazette that used the exact same wording from the Million Phone March web site.

What is a plagiarist?

n : someone who uses another person's words or ideas as if they were his own

What's cowardly and stupid is not being original in a letter that was printed in public. You're just sore because you got caught.

We've come to ignore most but the furthest out far-lefty (and far-righty) kooky rants these days. If your letter didn't sound so unoriginal, we wouldn't have paid any attention to it.

As for us being part of the "brainwashed right" we urge you to read this post before stepping any deeper into the bovine excrement.

Childhood Sex Abuse Victims Against The 2000 Foot Law

Gary Swenson, a physician from Mason City and a past victim of childhood sexual abuse, speaks out in the Des Moines Register against the arbitrary and pointless 2000 ft sex offender residency law in Iowa.

It's a powerful column.

So is Leanne Buell's piece, another childhood sexual abuse victim who was abused at home.

Also read this column by Harold Williams, who was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse in 1987 and resides in the civil-commitment unit for sex offenders in Cherokee.


Related: Ed Fallon Was Right

Roger Bentley

Via a reader and picked up from NewsBank, the Cedar Rapids Gazette had a big profile on Roger Bentley (You know who he is - Ed.) in their Sunday paper. Here are some excerpts:

Roger Paul Bentley was a quiet kid who grew into a quiet man.

He dropped out of high school and the Job Corps. He moved around Eastern Iowa, living on the margins and lacking motivation. He worked on cars and in fast food restaurants. He forged checks and was repeatedly caught driving without a license. He was arrested for domestic abuse.

The Eastern Iowans who've known Bentley over the years have a hard time believing he could kidnap, rape and kill a 10-year-old girl.

But the two women he abused when they were children had no trouble believing it and are angry such a crime could happen.

Bentley, 38, goes on trial Monday for the kidnapping and murder of Jetseta Gage. He is accused of abducting the girl on March 24, 2005, from her northwest Cedar Rapids home and killing her in rural Johnson County, where her body was found the next day in a dilapidated, vacant mobile home.

The first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping trial will be held in Scott County District Court in Davenport, where the trial was moved because of extensive pretrial publicity...


The Gazette spent the past five months interviewing Roger Bentley's relatives and acquaintances and reviewing public documents for clues about the turn his life would take.

And while clues are there, none sufficiently explains why a 6-foot, 1-inch man weighing 265 pounds would sexually abuse a 12-year-old girl and a 7-year-old girl, go to prison and get out, only to be accused eight years later of raping and killing a 10-year-old girl...


In 1981, when Roger Bentley is 13, his parents divorce...


Bentley and his mother live in a southwest Cedar Rapids mobile home park, and he transfers to Prairie High School where he is a special education student. He drops out of school.

On Nov. 15, 1984, when he is 17, he lures a 12-year-old neighbor girl into his home and performs a sex act with her against her will...


In December, he is charged with third-degree sexual abuse. During his time in juvenile court, Bentley admits to other crimes as a juvenile, ones he hadn't been charged with.

In April 1985, just shy of his 18th birthday, a Linn County judge orders him to stay at the Juvenile Training School in Eldora for five months - a much shorter sentence than he would have received as an adult.

The judge states that Bentley "has been achieving much below his level at school, has not been attending well, does not follow through with his commitments. He left the Job Corps despite his commitment and seems to have no motivation to make plans for his future, even though he will become an adult in a little more than two months...


Bentley's victim says that years later Bentley moved into a residence just around the corner from her home in Cedar Rapids. Even though she'd come to "peace with her demons," that proximity was hard to take, she says.

"They knew 25 years ago he was a sex offender," the woman says. "When I heard about all of this (Jetseta's death), I thought, 'they could have stopped this.' ""


By November 1987, though, he's moved to a Cedar Rapids apartment on Glass Road NE and is starting to accumulate arrests. He was cited three times for driving without a license between November 1987 and May 1988. In January 1989, at age 21, he forges one of his mother's checks for $88.50 to Sears at Lindale Mall. He is charged with forgery and placed on probation...


In November 1989, Bentley, now 22, is charged with assault (domestic abuse) after hurting Michele Hansen in the apartment they share on Eighth Avenue in Marion. Officers report Bentley grabbed Hansen by the jaw and poked her in the chest, leaving a red mark.

Back in court in April 1990, Bentley's probation on the forgery charge is revoked after officials decide he isn't following rules - namely driving without a license, domestic abuse and not telling his probation officer about those offenses.

He is sentenced to up to five years in prison, but the sentence is suspended. Instead, Judge Van Zimmer orders Bentley to serve 180 days in a Cedar Rapids halfway house and places him on three years' probation.

This time, Bentley successfully completes probation and is discharged from probation on June 29, 1993.

Less than a year later, in February 1994, Bentley fondles a 7-year-old girl at a house in Urbana.

He is arrested and charged in Benton County with second-degree sexual abuse but convicted on the lesser charge of lascivious acts with a child. He is sentenced to up to five years in prison and, at age 27, enters the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility in November 1994. He'll serve a little over two years, getting out Jan. 6, 1997.

While in prison, Bentley refuses treatment in the sex offender treatment program. (At the time, inmates could not be required to participate in such treatment programs. The Iowa Legislature changes the law after Bentley's arrest: Now, if inmates required to take such programs won't take them, they don't earn time off their sentences and will serve longer than others who go to the counseling program.)

Once Bentley completes his prison sentence, he is released without any additional supervision. He registers for the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, where his assessment states he is at "high risk" to reoffend...


Around the same time, Bentley meets Jetseta's mother, Trena Gage, 29, of Cedar Rapids, through his brother James and becomes a friend of the family.

Gage is dating James Bentley, whom she met while talking on a CB radio.

James Bentley is charged in November 2004 and January 2005 with the sexual abuse of Jetseta.

On March 24, 2005, Bentley is at the Gage home, 448 Jacolyn Dr. NW, Cedar Rapids, working on the transmission on Gage's van.

Gage, who says she didn't know Roger Bentley was a convicted sex offender, leaves to attend class at Hamilton College, leaving her children in the care of her mother, Teresa Gage.

Later that evening, Jetseta's 7-year-old brother, Ian, tells his grandmother he saw Roger Bentley leave with Jetseta. Cedar Rapids Police are called and the neighborhood is searched.

An Amber Alert is issued that includes information about Bentley and his vehicle. A tip leads officers to a vacant mobile home at 4703 Orval Yoder Turnpike in rural Kalona the next morning.

Investigators find Bentley there, with "possible blood" on his clothes. Later, they find the child's body under a cabinet in the mobile home. It's alleged Bentley bound Jetseta's feet after sexually abusing her and then tied a plastic bag over her head until she asphyxiated...


Bentley's second victim, the 7-year-old girl he abused in 1994, now married and living in Missouri, had a similar reaction.

"She called me crying," says her father, who lives in Linn County. "She just couldn't believe it happened again.

"If I'd gotten my hands on him (in 1994), I would have killed him," says the man, who asked not to be identified to avoid identifying his daughter. "It all came back when I heard this girl was abducted."

One question we've always wanted to have answered was how Trena Gage didn't know that Roger Bentley was in the Iowa Sex Offender database. James Bentley, Roger's brother, had been accused of abusing Jetseta for three years. Wouldn't authories have run the Bentley name and come across Roger's previous convictions and inclusion the sex offender database? Perhaps this detail will come out at both James and Roger's trials.

John Fund On The Trail

From OpinionJournal.com:

In the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, It seems everyone has discovered the excesses of pork-barrel spending. Voters may now be disgusted enough to make the political costs to a member seeking pork greater than the benefits.

Mr. Abramoff was a master at deploying his lobbying shop to get his clients earmarks, or spending projects that members of Congress directly request for a specific use or beneficiary. While some earmarks are worthy items that simply didn't make a bureaucrat's priority list, many others are howlers such as Alaska's infamous "bridge to nowhere." Abuses can easily happen, since the number and dollar value of earmarks have quadrupled in the last decade. Many of the 15,000-plus earmarks Congress passed last year were quietly slipped into last-minute conference reports. Members thus had no opportunity to debate, amend or question them. That's how the federal transportation bill finances a $3.5 million horse trail in Virginia and a $50 million indoor rainforest in Iowa.

Read the whole thing.

You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You

2005 Iowa State Fair "highlights" from Google Video

Elbert: Rainforest Dead In Des Moines?

David Elbert has a huge opinion piece in the Des Moines Register concerning the possible fate of the Rainforest project:

Iowa's rain forest project is dead, or soon will be as far as Des Moines is concerned.

Much of the Des Moines business community recognizes that the rain forest isn't going anywhere. But individuals are reluctant to say so publicly for fear of offending supporters, who include former Gov. Bob Ray, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley and businessman Ted Townsend, who came up with the idea.

Four prominent local business leaders met recently to share their doubts with each other. All four are seasoned insiders who know how to make things happen — Jim Cownie, Bill Knapp, Steven Zumbach and Mary O'Keefe...

I heard similar comments last week from four other leaders, who oppose efforts to revive the project in Des Moines but don't want to be identified as opposing it...

The Zumbach group said that for the project to work in Des Moines, "lead gifts will need to be at a significant eight-figure level with additional private corporate support at the seven-figure level."

Eight figures is $10 million. To me, a "significant eight-figure level" would be $20 million or more.

Who in this community has the ability to do that?

I can think of only a handful of companies that have made commitments like that in the past, and rarely on a single project — Principal Financial Group, Wells Fargo, Hy-Vee and Meredith Corp.

All four companies are involved in other projects, specifically the downtown riverwalks and Iowa Events Center, and until those projects have shaken out all the bugs and proved successful, I doubt that any of those companies will be lining up to make significant donations to another local project.

The number of individuals capable of making eight-figure commitments to civic projects is also short. By my count, it includes John Ruan, John Pappajohn, Marvin Pomerantz, Denny Albaugh and Townsend. Like the businesses listed above, all, except Townsend are involved in continuing projects. Even if they weren't Townsend is the only one that I know of who has ever shown up as rain-forest backer.

A list of potential seven-figure contributors is a little longer. It includes Bill Knapp, Jim Cownie, Gary Kirke, Bill Krause, Dick Jacobson, Bill Van Orsdel, Jim Hubbell and maybe Mike Gartner and Denny Elwell. Again, none has been identified during the past nine years as a backer of the rain forest.

Nice to see that one part of the Des Moines Register (the news division) has been doing their homework and running the numbers a bit. Unlike, say, the dweebs on the Editorial Board.

KKK Invade Des Moines

Via a reader, from KCCI:

A group of eight picketers who said they were from the Ku Klux Klan carried signs in front of Terrace Hill on Grand Avenue in Des Moines on Saturday.

Doug Sadler, who says he's a member of the Charles City KKK chapter, organized the protest. He says he's worried about the six gay couples who filed suit in late 2005 seeking to have the right to be legally married in Iowa...

Sadler said motorists passing by their picket line Saturday morning mostly reacted with "plenty of one finger salutes".

And from KIMT:

"We're just making a statement that we don't want the sodomites to get married in our state. We don't want this to turn into some sort of vacation playland for them, I've got kids to raise here," Sadler said.

No word on if that idiot Sasha Kemmet was there defending the right of this terrorist group to speak.


Related: KKK Rally Against Gay Marriage In Des Moines Next Month?

Brain-Dead Letter To The Editor

Joseph Organist of Fayette writes to the Waterloo Courier:

I was watching Gov. Tom Vilsack's Condition of the State speech recently and was irritated with the portrait of President Bush displayed behind him in the Statehouse. I believe it is inappropriate to display a portrait of the president within the Statehouse, and especially directly behind the speaking podium.

The president represents a particular political affiliation regardless of the party he belongs to and the state Legislature should generally have no accountability to his administration or his political ideology.

I propose that rather than a portrait of the president, the Statehouse should display a portrait of an Iowa resident, possibly a farmer, a teacher or a child who has made a positive contribution to the state, in this space. The portrait could be replaced yearly and will serve as a reminder to the representatives who it is they are actually accountable to!

I believe there will be strong bi-partisan support for such a move as well as a good deal of positive public relations to any legislator who proposes this action.

Why don't we put up a picture of Cedar Rapids native and film star Elijah Wood? You know which one we're talking about (picture probably nsfw - ed.)

Politics Is A Rough Sport

Updated below:



One of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Patty Judge's sons responds in his blog to an email we received and published concerning recent speeches by Judge and Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman:

There's a nasty anonymous letter about my mom on State 29. Sheesh.

Oh well, I'll address some of the issues, since I know her fairly well.

The letter we published was really more of a critique of Judge's performance giving a stump speech by one person. You can't get too thin-skinned about this sort of stuff. People get impressions of candidates and make their choices based on what they see and hear. Politics is a rough sport.

We've really only had OK things to say about Judge since her campaign began (here and here and here). She'd probably be a formidable candidate if Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman was some nobody history teacher at Hoover High in Des Moines and Deacon Blouin was off serving the Archdiocese of Dubuque by preparing the sacraments and performing liturgical celebrations in Cedar Rapids.

At least Judge isn't pathetic like stand-on-the-street-corner Sal Mohamed or multiple-spare-tired Vernon Weems. Judge's only problem is that she doesn't have a sugar daddy like Bill Knapp or actual grassroots like Ed Fallon. Her candidacy is certainly doomed, but at least she's giving it a shot. And we'd all vote for Patty Judge long before we'd ever pull the lever for either Jim Ross Nussle or that dildo Vander Plaats.

Ed Fallon is still our man.


Update: A followup from Smoky Hollow:

I need to thank State 29 for a gracious response to my previous post. I appreciate that. And yes, State 29 has generally been fair to my mom in their blogging.

Jocks Vs Geeks

Alan Sivell of Davenport writes to the QC Times:

Fritz Miller is right. The concert put on by the Central High School band last week was excellent.

However, Fritz Miller should not have to write a letter to tell the community about a performance that played to a packed house and featured 248 musicians. The story should be in the newspaper.

We have whole sections, daily, devoted to sports. Daily blurbs about celebrities. Daily briefs about strange news and crimes from around the country. The local arts get twice a week. Education? Whenever there’s a controversy.

Our young musicians and teachers put in at least as many hours preparing for their concerts as do their counterparts on the sports teams. Yet, too often, their work goes unnoticed except for an occasional story. The fault lies not with news staffs, but with management that refuses to fund a staff that could supply the proper coverage.

Some tradition-bound news people might say, “Yes, but if we cover one concert, we would have to cover them all.” While saying that, they reactively send every warm body they can find to cover every area basketball or football game, no matter how dismal the teams may be.

We will never be the educated nation we claim we want to be if we slavishly worship the traditional daily occurrences to the exclusion of the arts and education. Newspapers need to take a leadership role, break out of the traditional models and seriously cover the events that are of interest to the community.

Excellent letter.

The Des Moines Register, who recently decided to can locally-written movie reviews in favor of bland syndication, does a pretty good job of covering regional school events. Although for in-depth coverage you can't beat a small-town newspaper.

Ed Fallon Was Right

From the Des Moines Register:

Authorities cannot find twice as many sex offenders since a state law went into effect last year banning offenders from living near child care centers and schools, according to new statistics obtained by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. As of last week, 298 of more than 6,000 sex offenders statewide were unaccounted for by law enforcement vs. 142 on June 1, 2005.

The number of missing offenders — roughly 1 in 20 now, vs. 1 in 46 before the state's 2,000-foot law went into effect — is a conservative count, police say. It does not include offenders who lie about their whereabouts, those who no longer register or those who have moved into the state undetected.

Numerous law enforcement officials — police, sheriffs and prosecutors in rural and urban areas — said last week that the gap in the offenders' whereabouts underscores the myriad problems associated with the 2,000-foot law.

Among the most trouble- some: The measure affects only where offenders sleep, not whom they come in contact with. It does not affect thousands of offenders who were "grandfathered in" and continue to live near children. And it treats low-level offenders as seriously as it does the worst predators.

What's more, numerous officials say the law is creating a new population of people who are homeless, while encouraging others to lie and say that they are.

Scott County Attorney Bill Davis, who believes the law should be repealed, said that he has consulted several prosecutors across the state, and that they are in agreement: "It's the wrong path. It doesn't make anyone safe, and it's just plain not fair."

Yeah, David Yepsen, are you listening now?

Iowa Media Treats University Presidents Like Royalty

Updated below:

Judging from the all the newspaper articles today, you'd swear that David Skorton shit gold, was a "great ambassador", and that his leaving is "one of the saddest days" ever.

The reality is basically ho-hum.

Now Skorton and his new wife will be pulling down a combined 7-figures in salary and bennies at Cornell. He's just be chasing the almighty dolla while being attracted to all that "prestigious" Ivy League nonsense. Good for him, trying to make more in a week than a doctor makes in a year.

University presidents are basically disposable figureheads. Why the media always makes them out to be some sort of royalty is constantly lost on us.


Update: This news story from the Ithaca Journal includes this bit of bogus information:

Skorton also has hired several new top administrators, including a provost and vice president for research, and has dealt with a controversy involving UI students living in low-income housing.

Are you kidding us?

Skorton didn't do jack shit about the problem of full-ride college jocks with moneyed parents living in housing meant for the poor until:

The U of I failed to take action on the matter when the issue was first raised by the Register in June 2004. Last year, however, President David Skorton wrote a letter to HUD urging changes after the newspaper reported that students remained at Section 8 complexes nationwide.

Wow, Skorton wrote a letter!!! And only after the first attempt to close the loophole failed. That's not exactly what we'd call showing leadership.

Sorry, Ithaca Journal and David Skorton, but this loophole got closed due of the persistance of the Des Moines Register but especially Senator Tom Harkin. Gotta give credit where credit is due.

We'll give Harkin more credit than any newspaper, mostly because newspapers like the DMR would rather out the names of female rape victims than demonstrate with information freely available around the internet how Hawkeye football player Chad Greenway and his rich parents were clearly freeloading off the taxpayers while keeping poor families out in the cold. Wouldn't want to upset the Athletic Department, now would we?

Eyewitness commentary of Patty Judge and Chet Culver appearances

From a reader:

I have been avidly following your analysis of the Democratic candidates for Governor, here are my impressions of Judge and Culver having recently attended events where they both spoke.

Patty Judge:

First question is how did she get to where she is at? I didn't know that being a bitter and crankly ol' Farmwife was that much of a political strength. She went into the "we gotta do…." list of things ("We gotta be better than 49th in teacher pay" or "we gotta do better than 50th in venture capital") Pretty much stuck to the safe answer about Iowa being a "energy exporter". I say it's safe because a) no one knows anything about it so can't call them on it and b) it's so far out in the future who knows what will happen. I now see that Management Consultants would be naturals at politics. She touted herself as having never being favored in any election but never losing one either. It never occurred to me that our Secy of Ag was such a political juggernaut. If it weren't for self-respect and the paycut I would look into this "public service" racket. She also laid the "women's right to decide her own healthcare" on a bit much. So that is her platform- E85 and Pro-Abortion…stitching together that vaunted constituency of wealthy investors and the Emma Goldman Clinic softball team (think of the mascot possibilities!)

This "energy exporter" stuff reminds me of the idiotic "laser" building Branstad had to build in Iowa City because as you know Iowa was going to be become the Laser research capital of the world. Our state leaders seem to have this "Music Man"-like fascination with the next big thing. Replace "Laser Research" with "Bio-Diesel" and you see what I mean. So that's why we have a ugly "laser" building in Iowa City and a fiber optic network that is about as useful as a CB radio. (Funny how not one of these Futurists in our state government could not foresee wireless) If this keeps up maybe Nussle or Blouin will run as the Pro-Monorail candidate- I think we're game for it..


Chet Culver:

I don't automatically discount legacies in and of themselves- to me if it's the family business maybe you do pick up some things about it. It seems to work in every endeavor but politics. This guy is all about his name, he comes across as likable enough, but you can't shake the feeling that he's also trying to sell you a Term Life Insurance policy you don't need. His "speech" such as it were -was plenty of platitudes about being 49th in this, and 50th in that. Which isn't that a subtle way of indicting the "Tom Vilsack? I mean what does that say about how effective Tommy has been? Chet did manage to say Tom has been a "good" governor without appearing as if he were reading from his captors demands.

Chet focused a lot on his being "electable" - but after seeing Ma Judge I would be touting that as well. Also Chet says he's a 5th generation Iowan, why would you count them if you weren't self-conscious about it? Does anyone count up the generations? That's something only Texans and Californians do. I don't care that he grew up in DC and returned "home" to Iowa to cash in on his name, just don't pretend that you aren't. No one really cares- otherwise he wouldn't have made it this far.

Chet has no real answer to anything- I know the idea is not to answer the question but to turn it into something you memorized- the good ones have it down to an art form, the bad ones ( Ma Judge) come off as idiots. Chet all but mimed himself desperately trying to flip through some imaginary textbook to give a semblance of an answer.

Where Chet does earn derision and the "Kent Dorfman" label is that he clearly hasn't done his homework on any issue, nor does he indicate that he will. This is a guy who has been able to skate by a lot of things in life and it is apparent in his preparation. Answering questions by saying you have to solicit feedback and then craft your more detailed plan at a later date doesn't cut it. (so this is Chet's "listening tour"?)

Being a 3rd Generation Democrat myself (see! suddenly I am one of you and I am credible- it does work) I am not impressed at all by these manufactured candidates (Blouin & Culver) being foisted on us, so it's back to having to choose between a Douchebag and a Turd Sandwich.

So while I admit I initially scoffed at your Fallon for Governor idea- you obviously understood his competition.

Thanks for writing this interesting piece of analysis and sending it to us!


Update: Followup post.

The Iowa Compassionate Consultants Awareness Network Blog

From the Iowa Compassionate Consultants Awareness Network blog, written by Rev Green:

Diagnosed with MS April 2004 My main goal is to raise awareness about the benefits of safe, alternative medicine. I am still on my feet, I'm not blind yet, so I will take it upon myself to shatter these myths.

Don't forget that the drunks running the Iowa Legislature want to make third-time possession of marijuana a felony in Iowa. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The Political Lie

The Political Forecast has been towing the Howard Dean lie that Democrats didn't take any money from Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. We wonder what he thinks of all this:

Records from the Federal Elections Commission and the Center for Public Integrity show that Abramoff’s Indian clients contributed between 1999 and 2004 to 195 Republicans and 88 Democrats. The Post has copies of lists sent to tribes by Abramoff with specific directions on what members of Congress were to receive specific amounts.

Is the moonbatshit wing of the Democratic Party so ensconced up their own sphincters that removal is impossible?

The Political Madman Dissects Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman's Fundraising

The Political Madman has an outstanding post today about the money Chet Culver has raised. Here's how it starts:

So I've spent about 5-6 hours between last night and this morning looking over Chet Culver's financial disclosure report, and I will say this, there's not as much Bill Knapp as I expected.

That's the last positive thing I'm going to say, so if you were looking for positives about Culver, go listen to Chris Woods give you the expected result over and over again. "Culver, still, appears as the strongest Democrat in the field and I predict will continue to show that strength up into June’s primary." Yes Chris, of course you do. You're on his goddamn payroll.

Here's my biggest problem with Culver, after reading his disclosure reports. He's running for Governor of Iowa. You know Iowa, it's this one. But his fundraising doesn't appear to be focused on that at all. In fact, less than 35% of his fundraising actually took place here.

While State 29 may not have the time/patience to slog through these reports, I do. Here are some of the things I found wading through Culver's mess:

Go here to read the whole thing.

Locally Written Movie And Theater Reviews Killed At The Register

We noticed this at the end of the Cityview (Des Moines) Civic Skinny column:

And lastly, speaking of the Register, new editor Carolyn Washburn has eliminated locally written movie reviews from the newspaper, sending Jeff Bruner, who was getting quite a following, back to the editing desk.

We went back to the Register's web site and found this from Monday from Jeffrey Bruner:

Newspapers are things that are constantly in change and one of those changes will take place next week, when the Register moves to wire reviews and discontinues having a local film critic. Newspapers are constantly juggling resources and it’s been decided that having a full-time film and theater critic is no longer a priority.

After four years as the newspaper’s film critic I’ll miss reviewing movies — well, the good ones at least — as well as writing the Reel World page each week in Datebook. But I will be staying at the newspaper, working mostly as a copy editor but also continuing to review Des Moines theater.

This isn't a change, this is a sea change.

Tim Sacco of Omaha writes in the comments:

Somewhere, Joan Bunke is spinning in her grave — or, if she’s still alive, having a stroke. With each misguided decision, the Gannett Register continues increasingly to demonstrate why there is no compelling reason for anyone in central Iowa to buy it.

Joan Bunke is still alive, last we heard.

Who are they going to replace Bruner with? Roger Ebert? Oh, wait, we can read Roger Ebert on the web for free along with every other smelly and fat reviewer's rantings.

Maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all, but when Google or Ebay take over local classified advertising we think the Register is finally going to end up here once and for all.

David Skorton Is Just Another Ivy League Climber

According to the Des Moines Register, UI President David Skorton is expected to be named the president of Cornell.

No, not Cornell College in Mount Vernon. Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The Ivy League.

Isn't that great? Skorton follows all the other climbers like Zero Freedman and Hunter Rawlings III who moved on to the Ivy League. Mary Sue Coleman bolted to Michigan three years ago and now earns nearly $725,000 a year, the highest paid university president in the Big Ten.

Perhaps the douchebags on the next well-funded search committee ought to ask any potential candidates if they plan to stick around for more than a few years before moving on.

"It's a floor wax. It's a dessert topping. It's whatever they want it to be."

Nicholas Johnson quotes an old State 29 description of the proposed Coralville Rainforest in this Press-Citizen opinion piece today.

The quote is taken from a Saturday Night Live skit from 1975 called Shimmer.

Are we old, or what?


(Hat tip: Side Notes)


Update: Johnson is right-on here with his analysis:

The rain forest's fundamental problems have been obvious for four years. So why did so many public officials and mass media continue to emphasize "the 'Wow!' and the wonderful," virtually ignoring risks and realism? A skeptical venture capitalist asks questions and is called "a smart businessperson." Why, when citizens ask the same questions about the rain forest, are they called "naysayers" who "lack vision"?

Iowa has plenty of successful attractions throughout the state. There's no reason it can't have many more. But only if we remember the lesson of the Laser Center: "build it and they will come" only works in the movies.

One of the problems with the Rainforest having such long legs is due to the crusty Gannettoids running that monopoly corporate newspaper in Des Moines. While they occasionally put forth the slightly skeptical story on progress, most of the time they would just reiterate the talking points that were bought by David Oman and Robert Ray. These talking points would then be repeated without any critical thinking by all these brown-nosing elitists running practically every higher education institution within Iowa. They almost pulled it off, especially thanks to that weasel Chuck Grassley who, as far as we are concerned, got that $50 million on the taxpayer charge card and then changed the language from Coralville to all of Iowa solely because he is nothing but a monetized puppet of Oman and his ilk. You didn't see the Register publishing anything about that language change the way we did. Oh, God, it would totally upset their little fifedom of wink-nodding political corruption, PC-do-good-ism, massive tax increases on Iowa's poor, and lefty environmentalist showboating so that they can have something to brag about to their friends on the East Coast.

If the Register put half as much effort into trying to protect Iowa taxpayers and cleaning up the filthy, in-bred, political corruption that goes on as they did trying to out all the female rape victims in Iowa, this State would be a lot better off.

24th Anniversary of Ozzy Biting The Head Off A Bat In Des Moines

From Sing365.com:

January 20th [1982], at a concert in Des Moines, Iowa someone throws a bat on stage. Stunned by the light, the bat lay motionless and Ozzy thinking it was plastic, (of course he had to be drinking, or high on something to think this thing was plastic!) picks it up and bites the head off of it. The bat then started to flap his wings and Ozzy soon realized it wasn't fake! After the show Ozzy was immediately rushed to the hospital for rabies shots. Ozzy describes it as "one of the most horrible, painful experiences of my life."

Hat tip: Patriot Skull Face

I Forgot

From the Des Moines Register:

Polk County leaders Thursday said they forgot to figure out how they will pay off the first of $68 million in bonds for a new county jail before it opens in 2008.

If you think this is a bad start for a news article then read the whole thing because it gets worse.

Actually, the Polk County Board of Supervisors has a lot of experience with building things before they know how to pay them off. Take the Prairie Meadows Horse Racin' Track as an example.

It's really easy to get out of this pickle. Just add slottery machines in the lobby. Then, if things get worse in the future, we could add slottery machines inside the jail. And if all else fails then maybe we can train the prisoners how to build the slottery machines. We've got an answer for everything.

Lack Of Congruency At Iowa's Capitol

From WOI:

State officials are blaming the Capitol's facility manager for not installing special devices that would have helped handicapped people evacuate the building during yesterday's fire alarm.

The Capitol in Des Moines received five Evac-Chairs two years ago, but facility manager Mark Willemssen says he did not install them because he questioned whether they would work properly on the Capitol's winding stairs.

His decision to store the devices in the Capitol attic left at least one handicapped person stranded on an upper floor when the alarm sounded.

Some state officials say Willemssen refused to install the Evac-Chairs because he did not like the way they looked.

Mollie Anderson, the director of the Department of Administrative Services, says he stored them in the attic and was looking for something more -- quote -- "congruent with the building."

Willemssen denies the allegations. He says looks had nothing to do with it and he was waiting for Anderson's department to offer a safer solution.

Anderson puts the blame on Willemssen, who she says was responsible for finding something that fit the Legislature's taste.

Obviously, the best place for $6000 worth of equipment designed to get handicapped people out of the Iowa Capitol in case of a fire or an emergency would be in the attic.

And if an Evac-Chair can safely take a quadriplegic down 69 floors of Tower One of the World Trade Center in 2001, then maybe - just maybe - they'll work on the Capitol's winding staircases.

Jesus freakin Christ. Somebody fire these two ass clowns before Vilsack proposes that we tear down the Capitol and have the taxpayers build a new one with appropriate ways for the handicapped to be evacuated.


Update: More in the Des Moines Register's story today, including a quote from Iowa's Durst House Speaka Evah ™ Christopher Rants: "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard..." We should put Rants in one of those chairs and haul his empty head down the stairs as a test. Bet he makes it down safely.

Has Anybody Drug Tested Ed Stanek Lately?

From the Des Moines Register:

Lottery President Edward Stanek told a group of lawmakers today that the state would face "a significant financial liability" if the Legislature decided to ban the devices — currently numbering nearly 5,000 with another 5,550 in the pipeline. Based on existing contracts with retailers and distributors, business interests would lose $90 million or more in projected annual revenue and their investment of about $100 million, Stanek said.

The state would also lose out on a significant source of revenue. It expects to reap about $30 million from the TouchPlay business in the current budget year and $45 million the following year.

Gee whiz. Sounds like somebody's addicted to crack cocaine. Or heroin. Or nicotine. Or something similarly addictive. AND THEY NEEEEED A FIXXXXXXX!!!!!!!

Let's just make sure that prostitution doesn't accidentally get legalized throughout Iowa because you can just imagine what we'd hear if a bunch of prudish Iowans tried to stop that.

Where Are All The Iowa Sexy Women?

Not at Craigslist.

Maybe they're in the Polk County Jail:

Absolut Torture

Just try to slog your way through all these PDFs to make sense of it. You can't.

Iowa's political campaign disclosure reporting method is a joke. It's rotten.

Harkin Wants Tax Credits For E-85 Pumps

From Radio Iowa:

Gas station owners who don't want to invest in upgrading their facilities to pump E-85 might get an incentive from Uncle Sam. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is proposing a bill that would provide a tax credit of up to 30-thousand dollars per gas station to outfit them to sell the 85-percent ethanol fuel, which is made from corn.

Harkin says "We need more E-85 pumps all over the United States. Right now we can produce the E-85 but the tax credits are not there to promote that. So my philosophy is to provide the tax credits to get more E-85 pumps, not just in Iowa, but all over the United States." Harkin says the legislation, which is being co-sponsored by several senators, goes beyond E-85.

It's going to be impossible to figure out which fuel to put in our cars before long. There's 87 octane unleaded, 89-to-89.5 octane E-10 unleaded (gasohol), 91 octane premium unleaded, diesel, lots of different blends of bio-diesel (2%, 20%, and 100%, among others), and E-85.

You can even convert your car to run on propane, hydrogen, plug-in hybrids, or chicken and pig shit (methane). Volvo has been selling methane-powered family cars to the European public since 1995.

Too bad we can't get Harkin to propose a tax credit so that Iowa's Big Polluters throughout Iowa could have their liquid fish death cocktail converted into a viable fuel.

And while corn is currently being touted as a renewable fuel, don't forget cellulosic ethanol sources like switchgrass, which is a perennial, can grow on land unsuited for tilling, and has a much higher net energy gain than corn-based ethanol.

But without additional refineries being built for all these boutique blends, the spring and fall crunch is just going to get worse. Remember that no new oil refineries have been built in the US for 30 years.

Ames Tribune On Mark Leonard

Here's a story in the Ames Tribune on Mark Leonard, a candidate for Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa that we like:

"Anything that affects any Iowan is also going to affect those people in agriculture, so the secretary of agriculture should be representing the industry," Leonard said.

One of those issues is the amount of farm subsidies doled out to farmers, he said.

"Just from the conservative standpoint, I struggle with the belief that the government owes them large sums of money every year strictly because of the occupation they are engaged in," he said.

Nationwide, 10 percent of the biggest subsidized farm operations received 72 percent of all subsidies, which is about $104 billion over 10 years, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Leonard said that regular allocation has hurt rural communities and farmers nationwide.

Another idea Leonard said could help all Iowans in the long run would be to move the Department of Natural Resources into the agriculture department. The two departments often are in conflict over funding and regulatory turf, which can create headaches and confusion for the people they affect, Leonard said.

"Both agencies are charged with doing the same job, they don't both get funded adequately to do the job, so why do the job twice?" he said.

We've always disliked farm welfare, especially the farm welfare that goes to the big factory farms.

And moving the DNR under the Agriculture Department seems like a sensible move. Surely somebody will complain about this idea, but considering how top-heavy Iowa is with governmental employees it seems like almost any consolidation would be a good thing.


Related: Mark Leonard For Iowa Secretary Of Agriculture

Fallon's Gravitas

From the Diary of a Political Madman:

Blouin trotted out another endorsement this week, from Attorney General and other notable pro-life Democrat Tom Miller. But in all the caucuses I've seen results from, Blouin was hardly mentioned, much less supported. So it looks like all his legislative and elected official endorsements amount to 51 votes. We pulled down 32 votes in one precinct in Des Moines.

Also, here's the greatest example of timing I've ever seen. Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) has been working on a report for months on the influence of money in politics. They're a tremendous, hardworking group and they've put together a tremendous report on donors to campaigns on the state level. Today, they set it loose. Tomorrow, you're going to read about how much money Chet Culver and Mike Blouin and Patty Judge have raised. You're going to hear about their big supporters, be they Bill Knapp, corporate bigwigs, agribusiness, etc. I hope you'll keep that article in mind while you're reading it.

Great post.

Blouin has no grassroots, just endorsements from lifelong teet-suckers and the people he's paid off via corporate welfare from the taxpayers.

We'll also soon see how much Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman is propped up by Daddy Warbucks like Bill Knapp. We suspect that most of Flounder's support comes from the loser wing of the Democrats. You know what we're talking about. They're kind of people who get behind a candidate because he or she has that perception of having the best chance of winning rather than actually holding any core values, is clean, or you could stand being alone in a room with them for any longer than 5 minutes before being bored to death.

It's unfortunate that Patty Judge didn't make a bigger splash at the caucuses. She's a far cleaner and more interesting candidate than either Blouin or Culver.

For those of you wanting to read the CCI report, go over to VoterOwnedIowa.org and download the 400KB Microsoft Word document or the 1MB PDF. Once you get past the first few pages it's fascinating reading for political junkies, especially the part that describes how rotten and backwards Iowa's political discloure system is.

No Need For Speed

Ron Phillips of Bettendorf writes to the QC Times:

The City of Davenport has decided to become part of the “Big Brother” movement in the U.S. with it’s “No Need for Speed” program.

Protection of society is the usual answer for cameras and has special merit when cameras are placed in high crime areas.

Could there be a money-making reason for the city and the camera company’s partnership? Tell the citizens the guidelines used for such a union. Show the evidence for the need of cameras. Better yet, let the citizens decide this one at the polls.

Bettendorf’s Riverdale Heights has an alternative to speed cameras. It’s a “speed indicator sign” that shows the driver’s speed as they approach the school. Interstate road construction projects also use such signs.

Maybe it’s time for citizens to rebuke business and government for encroaching on our lives for our protection and security.

Good letter.

Speed indicator signs do a lot better job at slowing down traffic than some cop sitting in his car slowly getting testicular cancer while fattening the city's coffers or some Arizona company collecting a significant percentage of fines based on speed cameras.


Related: "The cameras were only responsible for the accidents that didn't happen" and Anti-Crime Cameras In Davenport

Post-Kelo Legislation In Iowa

From Todd Dorman in the Sioux City Journal:

Senate Republicans filed legislation Wednesday that would significantly curtail the power of local governments to condemn property to make room for economic development.

GOP leaders said they're determined to protect property rights after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year strengthened the hand of local officials in land disputes. The high court ruled that economic development can be considered a "public use" that justifies the seizure of private property.

What's shocking is that the Democratic leadership in the Iowa Legislature are balking on this one. Talk about shitting all over the little guy.

Notice in this story in the Des Moines Register how stonewalling by the Democrats isn't even brought up.


Update: Also read the JoeSaysSo blog's post on the anti-Kelo legislation, especially on what parts in the Republican-initiated bill could be "ripe for mischief."

Related: Fallon on Kelo

More On That Pot Bill

The Daily Iowan has more on a bill in the Iowa Senate that makes third time possession of marijuana a felony (SF 2014).

Yesterday we pointed out the contrast between this bill and HF 2070, which criminalizes assaulting an umpire or referee as a simple misdemeanor.

Y Kant The Anknee Pressed Shitizen Read?

The Iowa Greeks are upset at a rather poor copy'n'paste job by the paper in Ankeny.

Maybe they have a bias against Greek people. Ya never know.

Oh It’s Good, Good, Good. Like Brigitte Bardot!

Brigitte Bardot responds:

Inflammatory language aside, the argument simply doesn't hold water, for reasons I'll touch on in a moment. There were a flurry of comments on State's argument over on Political Forecast - see Chris Wood's response and the comments thereto. Out of these, Marc D. went farthest in doing actual factual refutation of State's position.

Did anybody read the original story and comprehend what it was about? Here are the finer points from the initial State 29 post. This is all from the Iowa State Daily:

The Iowa Department of Human Services has received approval for a five-year federal project aimed at increasing the number of women receiving family planning services.

Officials view the program, targeted at low-income women, as a means to reducing Medicaid costs...

According to state records, 33 percent of births in Iowa were covered by Medicaid in 2003, or 12,789 out of 38,139 total births in the state.

That was up from 27 percent, or 10,453 births out of 37,610 in the state in 2001...

In a five-year period, federal costs for births in Iowa - which include prenatal care, delivery, pregnancy-related services and services to infants up to age 1 - were estimated to be $568 million without the program.

Federal savings during the program's five years could amount to $11.3 million, according to projections made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Iowa could also save about half that amount, officials said.

The main point of the program, at least from the Federal angle, is to reduce the number of taxpayer-financed births. The hope is that the Feds reduce their costs by getting more poor women in Iowa checked and, ostensibly, get them on a female-initiated birth control plan. Fewer Fed-paid births equals fewer State-paid bennies down the road.

Can we all agree on that? Good.

If reducing future costs is the goal, then why don't the Feds and the State kick in a little bit more and offer permanent birth control options? Side generally agrees with that one (minus the $2000 rebate option). And yes, tubal ligation is a more invasive procedure than, say, a vasectomy. Perhaps the Big V could be offered to married men? Vasectomies are a relatively cheap and easy procedure to perform. Besides, the guy had his fun. He might as well endure the wearing of a jock and changing gauze for a few weeks until he can bring in a sample that proves his "little boys" are no longer swimming around.

As for all the eugenics nonsense talk that was going around earlier, perhaps those who accused us of dancing close to it should look up who in the United States was subjected to compulsory sterilization in the past before it's trotted out again to make a(n invalid) point.

In closing, the point of the program is to reduce Federal and State costs of bringing another poor child into the world. Right? So all we're asking is that an additional choice be offered.

Choice? Get it? Choice.

Maybe some of you think an incentive from the government is crass, but it's certainly a motivator for some in other areas. Would you be inclined to put money into your 401K without your employer taking it out pre-tax and the government ensuring that any gains remain tax-free until you take it out? Do you think the 77% of college and university students who can't complete an undergraduate degree within four years would continue without Pell Grants and Federally-subsidized student loans with deferred payment plans dangled in front of their faces? How many examples like that do you want? Come on.

Ed Fallon's Caucus Results

From the home office on 10th Street:

State Representative and gubernatorial candidate Ed Fallon (D-Des Moines) announced during a Wednesday afternoon press conference that he expects to send over 1,300 delegates to county party conventions on March 4 and 11.

"These results are very encouraging," Fallon said. "For caucuses, we were able to have an organizational presence in over 500 precincts, and 408 Iowans came forward to be precinct captains. Rank and file Iowans are going to be the key to my grassroots campaign, and their passion for the bread and butter issues like clean elections, fully funded education, universal health care, and better environmental protection are what will take this campaign to the next level."

Fallon's organization covered over 75% of Polk county precincts, but also had a presence in 68 counties. Over 150 Fallon supporters had contacted the campaign as of 11:30 Wednesday morning to report their results. Seventeen of those caucuses reported Fallon had swept their delegates.

"We're in a really good position to do well at county conventions, if it comes to that," Fallon said. "I'm also really excited about our new volunteers. Seventy-one of my precinct captains were former Republicans and Independents and registered as Democrats for the first time last night so they could support me at their caucuses. I'm finding more and more that Iowans from all political ideologies share a lot of passion and believe in my core message. They're not as interested in partisan politics as they are in candidates that present a common-sense message. I would challenge any other candidate to find that level of Republican and Independent support."

With campaign disclosure reports due tomorrow, Fallon took the opportunity to showcase the strengths he says will limit his need for money.

"Other candidates will certainly raise more money than I have, but none of them can claim the grassroots structure that I'm building," Fallon said. "Iowans are not sheep. Rank and file Iowans will follow the candidate that is the strongest on the issues they care about, not the candidate with the most money or the biggest endorsements."

This is great news for Fallon's campaign.

We knew that Fallon had bipartisan support, but we didn't realize how strong it was.

And while we hope that Fallon gets the Democratic nomination, if he doesn't we hope he runs as an Independent. Against the likes of puppets and DC insiders like Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman and Jim Ross Nussle, respectively, Fallon would be poised to pull a Jesse Ventura.

Original Or Extra Crispy Legislator?

From Radio Iowa:

An Iowa legislator is calling for a review of statehouse emergency procedures after being stranded on the second floor of the capitol during a fire alarm. Representative Mark Kuhn, a Democrat from Charles City, is temporarily in a wheelchair because his legs were severely injured in a November accident. "When the alarm went off that told all legislators and members of the general public to evacuate the building I was in the back room talking to the Easter Seals Society and was told I couldn't use the elevator to evacuate the building," Kuhn says. "I was told I had to stay until they figured out what to do with me."

Highway Patrol officers who guard the capitol were summoned. Kuhn was told he'd be placed on a gurney and lifted down the stairs, then an officer decided they'd first determine if it was an emergency. "I saw the firemen come in...and it was determined it was not an emergency but it brought about the question: what is the state capitol's plan...for people with disabilities and how do we get them safely out of the building."

This really isn't a laughing matter at all. The taxpayers have spent zillions of dollars and decades of time restoring, upgrading, and fixing the Capitol, but they forgot about what to do with the handicapped during a fire. Not good. Kudos to Kuhn for getting something started.

Brokeback Mountain Coming To Mason City

From the Mason City Globe Gazette:

Trevor Korth, manager of Cinema West and Cinema V in Mason City, recently received a petition signed by 41 people who want to see “Brokeback Mountain.”

But Korth says he already was trying to get the movie, which won four Golden Globes Monday night, including best dramatic film.

In the end he succeeded. “Brokeback Mountain” will open at Cinema West on Jan. 27.

But North Iowans interested in checking out some other films that have been nominated for or won major awards may not get a similar happy ending.

The movie biz is quickly heading towards the day when simultaneous release of titles on DVD, pay per view, as well as the traditional movie theaters happens. That will be good for all Iowans who want to see movies that limited numbers in New York and Los Angeles get to experience in the final weeks of the previous year (the deadline for most movies to qualify for award nominations).

In the past couple of decades if you wanted to see movies geared towards a more discriminating audience in mind, you'd have to go to Des Moines some 6 months after the movie appeared in New York. Or a college campus a year after that. The past sure sucked, didn't it?

Iowa Legislature Latest

Some recent legislation introduced under that gold dome in Des Moines:

SF 2031: A bill for an act relating to grandparent and great-grandparent visitation. (Once again, the great-great-grandparents are being screwed.)

SF 2028: A bill that adds "an American zoo and aquarium association accredited zoo" to the list of locations that certain convicted sex offenders in Iowa can't reside within 2000 feet of. (How about adding "rainforests" to the list while yer at it?)

SF 2026: A bill for an act creating a support the arts motor vehicle registration plate, establishing fees, and making an appropriation. (Don't support the arts directly, but instead buy a license plate saying that you support the arts.)

SF 2014: A bill for an act relating to the possession of marijuana, and providing a penalty. (It turns a third offense into a Class D Felony rather than the current aggravated misdemeanor.)

HF 2070: A bill for an act enhancing the penalty for a simple misdemeanor assault against a sports official. (So somebody possessing a small amount of weed is a bigger criminal than a thug who hits a ref or umpire...)

HF 2065: A bill that raises the compulsory attendance age for public school from 16 to 18. (Why not make it 21? Or 25? Or cradle to grave!)

HF 2061: A bill for an act establishing a fresh fruits and vegetables pilot program for schools to be administered by the department of education, making an appropriation, and providing an effective date. (What have we been serving the kids before? Cardboard and lard?)

HF 2052: A bill for an act providing an income tax deduction for the purchase of an automobile that operates on E-85 gasoline and including retroactive and applicability date provisions. (The Tax Update Blog mentioned this last week.)


Update: (Did you notice that picture of the sidewalk leading up to the Iowa Capitol via Google Earth looks like a cartoonish naked woman complete with big thingees, a pierced belly button, and a rather oddly-manicured box? - Ed.)

Why The USS Iowa Can't Come To Iowa

Joe Euchner of Davenport writes to the Des Moines Register:

Don W. Crowley's Jan. 5 letter, "Bring Battleship Iowa Home," suggests a simple and elegant solution for the final resting place of the battleship USS Iowa — docking it as a tourist attraction on the Mississippi River. The problem is, at 887 feet long, the Iowa would not be able to pass through any of the Mississippi River locks, which average 600 feet in length.

The Iowa's almost 40-foot draft could not even enter the 9-foot navigation channels dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and its 108-foot beam (width) would barely squeak into the 110-foot wide Mississippi River locks.

While the notion that the USS Iowa should pay a visit to its namesake state is a noble and charming suggestion, it is simply not possible. A battleship is an ocean-going vessel unsuited to most river navigation.

Why wouldn't a newspaper attempt to fact check Mr Crowley's original letter to the editor? After reading Mr Euchner's reply, it took us about 2 minutes using Google to find all the facts.

You can look up stats and history on the USS Iowa here.

An ocean-going vessel can make it to Baton Rouge's port, but no further.

You can verify data on the length of the Mississippi River's locks in this speech by the Deputy District Engineer for Programs and Project Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District.

Nice work, Mr Euchner.

We Agree With Rekha Basu

Rekha's column on the TouchPlay Slottery machines is excellent:

The man was fidgety and anxious to get the conversation over with so he could get on with the business at hand — feeding money into the hulking metallic creature in front of him called Copper Dropper. It's one of the Iowa Lottery's new TouchPlay machines.

It was nearing 6:30 in the evening, and we were in the Dahl's on Ingersoll at 35th. Over the previous 15 minutes, as people stopped in for last-minute dinner items, I'd watched him fork his money over to the machine on the left, called Club Oasis. He was ready to move on to Copper Dropper when I intercepted him to talk.

He obliged, still clutching the $20 bill he'd pulled out from between pages in his checkbook.

He wouldn't give me his name, but said he's 59, recently retired — and addicted. He's played these machines every day since they were installed...

He'd listened to me interview another regular player who denied being a problem gambler and pronounced that BS.

It was a rotten idea to install these games in the grocery store, the second man said — "the worst idea they ever had. I wouldn't be here if they hadn't put em in."

And then he was back to his game.

Iowa Still Soft On Habitual Drunk Drivers Who Have Killed

In August we said:

What do you want to bet that this asshole will not be permanently banned from driving

According to the Press-Citizen today:

A North Liberty man who was convicted of killing a teenage boy in 1993 while driving drunk pleaded guilty Tuesday to another drunken driving charge stemming from an accident last summer...

A judge will sentence Henning on Feb. 24 in Johnson County District Court. Court records show prosecutors are requesting a one-year jail sentence with all but 180 days suspended, two years of supervised probation and pay $500 in restitution...

Henning served two years in prison and was ordered to pay nearly $5,000 in fines, restitution and court costs after he pleaded guilty in 1997 to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Christopher Harding, 13, court records show.

Wimpy sentence in 1997. Wimpy prosecutorial request for sentencing in 2006. This guy should never be behind the wheel ever again. Let's see how the judge sentences the guy. Betcha he gets less than what the prosecutors want.

Mainstream Iowan on Academics and Sports In Iowa

Don't miss this excellent post by Mainstream Iowan concerning a proposed state-wide rule where if a high school athlete fails a class then he or she cannot play sports for four weeks.

Mainstream quotes some very interesting caselaw at the beginning.

Sure makes Supersized Nancy Clark at the Des Moines Register look like an even bigger idiot than she already is.

What is with all these stupidertendents and elitist doublewide columnists at newspapers who think that a high school student failing a class should be allowed to play sports? These people need to be canned. And caned. Seriously. These people are allowing child abuse to occur by allowing the exploitation of a minor in exchange for some sort of deranged school pride and something to write about in the Register. Disgusting.

Welfare Loss Leader

Earlier today we featured a story about a Federal program that will allow all of Iowa's poor-to-200%-of-poor women free feminist exams, birff control, and everything else "family planning" related except pre-coital counseling and any abortion services.

Our advice was that the State and the Feds should consider a "loss leader" program whereby a cash incentive and free tube tie is offered to the serial taxpayer-dependent preggos.

Naturally, this upset some people. We even got accused of being in favor of "forced sterilization" - which of course is a lie.

Is it crass to offer a 23 year old woman with three kids by four different men an additional chance to get her life together? How is she going to advance herself and bring up what she has when she's pumping out more babies over the next 15-20 years?

Ignore the whole "welfare queen" myth. That's a rare instance.

What about a family with four or five kids with a married mother and father, but for some reason they can't bring in enough to get by. Perhaps one or both parents are on disability, is an occasional drunk or drug addict, or just can't hold a job. The family is constantly on some kind of assistance. Is it OK for the State to come along and say: "You're 32 years old, you've taken $XXX,XXX from the taxpayers over the past XX number of years. You're probably not going to change your ways. Why not accept some cash and get a free operation?"

The reality is that some people are going to get themselves into bad situations thanks to bad choices and before long they're living a Jerry Springer Guest Lifestyle.

The ultra-lefties can wring their hands all they want about "poor women" and how anybody who dares to criticize their plight must consider these women "whores" or whatever, but that doesn't solve the problem. Neither does giving the women "free" checks for herpes, warts, gonorrhea, crabs, and lord knows what else before slipping a packet of "free" pills into their purse - pills you just know that many will neglect to take properly.

How do you break the cycle of dependency upon the taxpayers? Free birth control? Grants to go to the local community college for a semester and a half? Job training so you can work at the local casino or TouchPlay Slottery convenience store? No way. That's not it.

"Family planning" should also involve a time in which the State decides that enough is enough. We're not getting all China on the welfare bums, but an incentive to a 19 year old mother of two with no hopes or prospects is the kind of loss leader that might pay some dividends down the road. Rather than stringing the mother and the kids (and some of the fathers) down the road until she's 39 with 20+ years of welfare, ADC, food stamps, heating assistance, Hawk-I, Medicaid, or never-ending battles in court over child support, how about giving the family an option to quit while they're behind only a little bit. Then they can have the time to raise what they've got, get their lives together once the kids are in daycare or school, then they can have a life and a career of their own. What's so wrong about that?

Oh, but it's pointless to argue with the type of people who are unable to judge anybody else except Republicans and those who might occasionally agree with a Republican-initiated policy. They are so elitist when it comes to being "pro choice" on abortion (We are all pro-fetus killing in the first trimester - Ed.) but when it comes to the State asking those dependent upon the taxpayers to stop their activities the high-and-mighty ultraleftist elitists go all crazy and hide behind practically meaningless slogans like family planning.

Iowa AG Tom Miller Endorses Deacon Blouin

From Radio Iowa:

I'm here to talk about the governor's race," Miller said during a statehouse news conference. "We've got a candidate who's got the best chance to win and he's the same candidate who would be our best governor, and his name is Michael Blouin."

Miller says Blouin appeals to "people in the middle" and he says those kind of candidates always fare best on election day. Miller lost his own bid for governor, losing the 1992 Democratic primary partly due to his pro-life stand.

Blouin, too, has been dogged by what critics call his "anti-choice" views.

What a dilemma for Iowa Democrats. Some won't support Deacon Blouin because he's a pro-life Catholic. Some won't support Bill Knapp Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman because he's pro-death penalty legacy stooge puppet. Nobody seemed to be supporting Patty Judge at the caucuses even though she's pro-choice and anti-death penalty. Guess that leaves Democrats with Ed Fallon as their "stealth" candidate for the big issues.

There's more:

But Miller concedes the abortion issue will dog Blouin throughout the primary. "It's not going to go away tomorrow and it'll be discussed and it should be. It's a big issue," Miller says.

It'll be discussed to death because Blouin will get tired defending his economic plan, which is essentially a reverse Robin Hood: take from the taxpayers and give to the giant corporations.

Iowa Touch'n'Play Brothels

Update: We got a lot of nice comments and links about this piece, published over the weekend. We decided to republish the piece today since the blog's audience is usually much larger during the weekdays:


Originally from the Des Moines Register, but changed slightly:

The spread of 4,600 Iowa mini-brothels to 2,600 retail locations statewide will benefit Iowa's economy, help the survival of small-business owners, and create thousands of jobs for unemployed and underemployed young women who lack health insurance, a group whose members make money from the brothels said Friday.

The Iowa Touch'n'Play Coalition, representing more than 1,000 Iowa pimps and madams, held a Statehouse news conference to provide what it called an "honest and accurate" background report on the Touch'n'Play brothels.

The group's leaders said they wanted to set the record straight about public misperceptions that have come up as a controversy has become more aroused over the deployment of Touch'n'Play brothels, which closely resemble traditional prostitution businesses. They said the brothels are tightly regulated and that no marketing has been aimed at Iowa's young people.

"Small businesses in Iowa deserve the right to offer legal products to their customers and to be respected for the role that they play in Iowa's economy," said Delores Cox, president of the Pimp Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa, a trade association. Touch'n'Play brothels often provide critical financial margins that make the difference between a business closing or keeping its doors open, she said.

Complaints from Iowans that Touch'n'Play brothels have dramatically expanded adultery in Iowa caused Gov. Tom Vilsack this week to order a temporary moratorium on licenses for brothels not ordered by the end of last week. The governor also appointed a task force to study Touch'n'Play issues, including whether there are safeguards to prevent minors, sex addicts and intoxicated people from being serviced.

The Touch'n'Play Coalition includes madams, pimps, sex trade workers and retailers with a financial investment of nearly $100 million in Touch'n'Play brothels installed in taverns, groceries, convenience stores, fraternal clubs and other sites.

All Iowans will benefit from state revenue generated by Touch'n'Play brothels, the group said.

The state's share of Touch'n'Play profits is estimated at $3 billion this year and $45 billion next year.

Coalition members said development of the sex trade has occurred with public oversight during the past four years, and included more than 150 live presentations to most members of the Iowa Legislature.

Peter Large of New Hampton, president of Gamecock Ventures, which buys and distributes Touch'n'Play brothels, said that "the positive economic impact has been completely ignored" by critics of the Touch'n'Play program.

Dick Boehner, whose family owns six Boehner & Lever BP Amoco convenience stores in the Des Moines area, said Touch'n'Play brothels provide his businesses with extra income totaling about $600,000 a month. That money helps offset high credit card fees and low margins on gasoline sales, he said, as well as employing women who would otherwise be working for a low wage and without adequate health insurance at places like Wal-Mart.

Cox, of the Pimp Marketers group, said retailers responsibly sell tobacco, beer and various lottery products, and should have no problems with Touch'n'Play brothels.

Frank Blunt, a Spencer businessman who is co-chairman of Get Off Iowa, an anti-brothel and pro-internet masterbation group, said that the "real untold story" is that Touch'n'Play brothels have been installed in Iowa counties, such as Clay County, where voters have rejected prostitution in ballot proposals and also in counties that haven't voted on allowing sex trade workers.

Pamela Anderson-Swallows of Storm Lake, chairwoman of the Iowa Pimping and Hoing Commission, predicted it will be difficult to prevent people younger than 21 from using Touch'n'Play brothels. She noted that in Storm Lake, underage people can enter businesses serving liquor if they don't try to drink.

"If you have a crowded bar, it is going to be really hard to regulate that," Anderson-Swallows said.

"Free" Birth Control For Poor Women In Iowa

From the Iowa State Daily:

The Iowa Department of Human Services has received approval for a five-year federal project aimed at increasing the number of women receiving family planning services.

Officials view the program, targeted at low-income women, as a means to reducing Medicaid costs...

According to state records, 33 percent of births in Iowa were covered by Medicaid in 2003, or 12,789 out of 38,139 total births in the state.

That was up from 27 percent, or 10,453 births out of 37,610 in the state in 2001.

Beginning in February, low-income women ages 12 to 44 who earn 200 percent or less of poverty level will be eligible.

They'll be able to go to a health clinic and apply to receive free annual gynecological exams, birth control pills and other family planning services. Abortions are not covered under the program.

Most of the funding comes through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, with the state paying 10 percent to match the 90 percent from the federal agency...

In a five-year period, federal costs for births in Iowa - which include prenatal care, delivery, pregnancy-related services and services to infants up to age 1 - were estimated to be $568 million without the program.

Federal savings during the program's five years could amount to $11.3 million, according to projections made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Iowa could also save about half that amount, officials said.

Paying for health care including birth control bills, which can cost $30 a month, can be challenging for low-income women, said Karen Kubby, executive director of the Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, which offers reproductive health care services.

"When deciding between shoes that fit your children or preventative health services … your kids are going to be your priority," she said. "This allows preventative health care to be high on your priority list."

The State of Iowa, or maybe even the Feds, would be better off paying poor women to get their tubes tied. Give them something like $2000 cash money and a free operation. That will save the taxpayers a lot of money in the future and will eliminate any future welfare dependents. Then they can screw every dirtbag loser in the county and not make any more babies. That's what we call a "win/win" situation for all. In the retail world they call this a "loss leader."

Upsetting The Fundies To Protect Your Interests

From KCRG TV9:

The city of Riverside, about 15 minutes south of Iowa City, will soon be home to one of Iowa's new casinos and now there is word that adult-themed businesses are also betting on a bright future in town but Washington County and area churches are rallying against strip clubs before they arrive.

Monday KCRG-TV 9 learned a club in question is not only bogus, it is actually a decoy...

[First Assembly of God Church in Washington Reverend Jim Cluney] said, "Even though they have a right to run their business, we have a right to protect our children from some of the influence that business brings into the community."

That business Cluney refers to is a strip club.

Jeremy Patterson grabbed the paperwork needed to build one, and ever since he has been taking heat from the county.

Patterson said, "Truly a person could have opened a strip club and no one could have fought it."

Only everyone is fighting it, although there is nothing to fight...

Patterson says there never was any plan for a strip club in Riverside.

He and an owner of another club just convinced everyone there was.

Patterson said, "We went about it that way just to get them going to try getting the ordinance passed so there can't be one."

Dillon responded, "That surprises me. I didn't know that." Patterson explained, "The whole scheme was to kill it so it didn't affect his business up north."

A club owner, Patterson will not say which one, paid Patterson to put pressure on the county and squash out any future competition but others see smoke and think fire.

That is absolutely brilliant!

We wonder if Coralville will be getting a new strip club eventually. Last year the owners of Dolls, the strip club uprooted for what was to be the Rainforest, ended up suing the city of Coralville because of a bait-n-switch on zoning matters after attempting to open in a new location. Who knows whatever happened to that? It's a shame that Iowa City doesn't have a strip club in the area, what with all the young hotties there.

Slottery Editorials

Iowa State Daily:

The stumbling block for these reforms, of course, will be money; TouchPlay machines are expected to net $30 million for the state this fiscal year. We understand the state's need for capital, but we believe fuller coffers shouldn't come at the expense of Iowa's morality and dignity.

Governor Yepsen:

We need more creative solutions. How about requiring convenience stores with these machines to put their profits into installing E85 pumps? That way, we don't have to use tax dollars to subsidize large, profitable corporations to get them to sell more ethanol. Or how about letting firms that have the machines keep them long enough to recoup their investment and make a little profit before removing them?

Vilsack Still Pushing Mandatory Pre-School For 4 Year Olds

From the QC Times:

Gov. Tom Vilsack used his speech at an event Monday commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day to argue for universal access to preschool in the state.

Vilsack has proposed a plan to ensure every 4-year-old in the state can attend a quality preschool.

He wants to spend $15 million in the first year of the program, which would rise to $75 million by the fifth year.

You know it will be more than $75 million.

“Not all of our youngsters, particularly not all of our youngsters of color, have that opportunity. Their parents struggle every day to make ends meet. They don’t have the resources to necessarily afford quality child care,” Vilsack said at the King celebration.

Blacks in Des Moines have a 90% illegitimacy rate, at least according to WHO Radio's Jan Mickelson. The sperm-spewing "men" are too busy seeding other loose and stupid women, smoking crack, or disappearing into prison.

And is it "child care" Vilsack wants? Or education?

He said if the state is serious about reducing the so-called “achievement gap” between white and minority students, educators must start their efforts before children head to kindergarten.

“The research is very clear: if we do right by our kids, if we give them a strong start, we’ll have less crime, we’ll have less juvenile delinquency. We’ll have higher graduation rates, we’ll have greater success for our kids,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack seems to be basing his entire proposal on The Perry Project, a study of 123 poor black children from "at risk" homes in 1962 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. 58 were put into pre-school in 1962 and 65 were not. It is not representative of Iowa's pre-schoolers.

The Perry Project's children recently turned 40 years old. The results are not that great:

* More of the group who received high-quality early education graduated from high school than the non-program group (65% vs. 45%), particularly females (84% vs. 32%);

* Fewer females who received high-quality early education than non-program females required treatment for mental impairment (8% vs. 36%) or had to repeat a grade (21% vs. 41%); and

* The group who received high-quality early education on average outperformed the non-program group on various intellectual and language tests during their early childhood years, on school achievement tests between ages 9 and 14, and on literacy tests at ages 19 and 27.

* More of the group who received high-quality early education than the non-program group were employed at age 40 (76% vs. 62%);

* The group who received high-quality early education had median annual earnings more than $5,000 higher than the non-program group ($20,800 vs. $15,300);

* More of the group who received high-quality early education owned their own homes; and

* More of the group who received high-quality early education had a savings account than the non-program group (76% vs. 50%).

* The group who received high-quality early education had significantly fewer arrests than the non-program group (36% vs. 55% arrested five times or more); and

* Significantly fewer members of the group who received high-quality early care than the non-program group were ever arrested for violent crimes (32% vs. 48%), property crimes (36% vs. 58%), or drug crimes (14% vs. 34%).

Wow, they make $20,800 a year as opposed to $15,300 a year. Only 36% were arrested five times or more as opposed to 55% of the other group. To base educational policy that will eventually cost taxpayers billions of dollars on data this thin and flimsy is complete bullshit. Where is Iowa's corporate monopoly media in calling Vilsack out on this?

Perhaps Vilsack should be requiring parents, or at least one parent, to read to their child for 20 minutes a day. Parents should shut off the Cartoon Network, the XBOX 360, put down that cigarette or crack pipe or cell phone, and check out a few books each week from the public library to read and pay attention to their kid. No, that would be too easy. And too cheap. But it would work.

Being Called A Racist Is "Stimulating Thought"

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Several teachers also are afraid of disciplining minority students in fear of being called a racist, Daugherty said. Sheila Hocking, a South East Junior High math teacher, said being called a racist can help a teacher.

"It's a good wake-up call to make sure things are going OK," Hocking said. "There's nothing wrong with stimulating thought."

That's just about the most fucked-up thing we've ever heard a teacher say.

Caucus Wrapup

From the Des Moines Register:

At Des Moines' Roosevelt High School, for instance, 18-year-old Kaitlyn Wright attended her first caucus to stand up for Fallon.

"I agree with a lot of the things he says," the 18-year-old Roosevelt High School senior said.

Thirty-two of 42 people who showed up in Des Moines' 54th Precinct supported Fallon; the rest were undecided.

Hillary To Blacks: "The House of Representatives has been run like a plantation and you know what I'm talking about"

Looks like most of the top New Yawk Democrats were hanging out at race-baiter, Jew-hater, liar, and hoaxer Al Sharpton's plantation on MLK Day.

Don't miss this video of Hillary Clinton at the event. When asked by a man what the difference between Republicans and Democrats was, she replied in her screetchy, forced whine to the mostly-black crowd:

“When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation and you know what I'm talking about..."

If the Democrats think they're going to run her in 2008 and get anywhere, they're insane. And you know what we're talking about.


Related: But Al Sharpton Really Is A Race-Baiting, Jew-Hating, Liar, Hoaxer, and Former Candidate For President

Baptist Minister From Waterloo Takes Talking Points From Massa Howard Dean

From Radio Iowa:

A Baptist minister from Waterloo says when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, it exposed poverty in America. Reverend Michael Coleman, pastor of the Antioch Baptist Church in Waterloo, was today's keynote speak at the State of Iowa's annual Martin Luther King, Junior ceremony in Des Moines, and he says "God blew the storm in" for a reason.

"Katrina...stopped off at a little place called New Orleans...It released all of this power, all of this anger and all of this rage and when it was done there was nothing but chaos left, but there were some clear lessons learned," Coleman says. "One was there is still inequality in our nation."

Jesus Christ. Get over yourself, you two-bit Methodist who can't read. Do you only take your marching orders from a nutcase liar like Howard Dean?

Iowa Caucus Liveblogging

Drew Miller and John Deeth liveblogged their caucus activities.

Good to see that Miller's motion for electronic financial filings for campaigns passed unanimously in his caucus location. Maybe Iowa will advance towards embracing internet technology readily available in 1996 - 10 flipping years ago - when it comes to having the public be able to search for who contributed how much to which candidate.

MLK Day In Iowa

From KCCI. This starts off real nice and sensible:

The governor signed a proclamation Monday making today Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Iowa...

Vilsack talked about the accomplishments of African-Americans and told young people that key to their own accomplishments is education.

"If you stay in school, if you do well in school, you can realize the dream of this great man. Because when he talked our nation, realizing that great dream, he was talking about you. And he was expecting each of you to do what you had to do in school to be successful," Vilsack said.

That makes enough sense.

Then this happened:

The Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans awarded Adin Davis a King Lifetime Achievement Award. He was recognized for his activism, diversity consulting and organization of King and Kwanzaa celebrations in Des Moines.

Vilsack was honored for helping to restore voting rights for felons who have served their sentences and reaching out to newcomers and immigrants.

So is the number of decent blacks in Iowa so low that the Commission had to honor some guy who pushes a phony, made-up "hoaxiday" that was invented by a black racist who went to prison for torturing a woman?

It's also sad that the only white guy being honored in Iowa is the fella who issued an executive order that caused a blanket restoration of voting rights for all felons, including those who haven't paid their restitution and all those sexual predators.

Is the barometer that low? Is the limbo bar that high? If that's the case, can we just scrap this holiday that, today, shits all over what Martin Luther King stood for?

The Digital Revolution

From Radio Iowa:

Critics are calling them "slottery machines" but the defenders of the new Iowa Lottery TouchPlay machines say the devices are part of the digital revolution. Steve Henneman is the general manager of an Omaha company that manufactures the TouchPlay machines. Henneman says his company, Oasis Gaming, prints lottery tickets and first approached the Iowa Lottery about its electronic dispenser for lottery tickets in 1995. "This is not any new concept," Henneman says.

Iowa Lottery CEO Ed Stanek has said the TouchPlay machines will help move Iowa's Lottery into the electronic age. "What the idea is with this product is to bring new ways of playing scratch tickets and pull tabs," Henneman says. "When you have a box of tickets, you have a predetermined number of winning and losing tickets. That's exactly the way that the product works in the TouchPlay arena...There is no difference in this product than the paper game."

Henneman compares the TouchPlay tickets to the "E-tickets" you get now to board a plane. "You're playing a product on a video screen as opposed to playing it in paper form," Henneman says. "The fundamental difference of finite, predetermined outcomes is what makes this product different from a slot machine."

Critics says the machines look, act and play like a slot machine, regardless of how winners are determined.

Ed Stanek needs to be putting his thumb into the wind to check public opinion rather than up his ass, because that seems the be the only kind of "digital revolution" happening in his world.

The TouchPlay Slottery Machines are like a digital invasion.

Federal Holidays

We're not fans of the Martin Luther King Jr Federal holiday. We think it's totally unnecessary and should be repealed. To be equally fair, we also think Columbus Day is pointless.

Here's an interesting snippet from a Mason City Globe Gazette editorial:

...only 23 percent of respondents to a poll said they will do anything to commemorate this holiday that took effect in 1986.

That’s not good. That’s why we must continue to make the King holiday a priority. His dream must live on, and it’s up to all of us to make sure it does through community meetings, prayer services and other appropriate gatherings.

Sorry, folks, but Iowa was a Union state, OK? We didn't have slavery here. Yes, some blacks experienced racism and bigotry in Iowa, but so did every other ethnic immigrant over the past 170 years.

King's most famous speech is mostly about the South. Although King does mention the "slums and ghettos" of the industrial north once, the politicians in his speech and the states they ran were all those racist southern Democrats.

Towards the end of the "I Have A Dream" speech King says:

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

Free one day so that Al Sharpton, a race-bating, Jew-hating, liar, and hoaxer can be opened with welcome arms by those who control the Democratic Party and paid to feed on stupid people with financial problems.

Free one day so that elitist white liberals can push a phony, made-up "holiday" by a person who was convicted and served time for torturing a woman.

Free one day so that a gang founder and multiple murder who was sentenced to death could be lobbied for clemency by Senator Tom Harkin.

Free one day so that Head Colored Person in Charge Julian Bond can say this about the political party that freed his black ass:

"Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side," Bond told a cheering audience. "They've written a new constitution for Iraq and ignore the Constitution here at home. They draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics. Now they want to write bigotry back into the Constitution."

And then Iowa high schools invite Bond to speak to students about voting.

Free one day so that a bunch of uppity race pimps can gather in Pella at something called the White Privilege Conference.

Free one day so that a magazine can declare Iowa the "second worst state for blacks in the United States" last year with nothing to quantify that distinction other than how many convicted black criminals we have in our prisons as a percentage to the state's black population.

We're not sure what all those cracker lefty elitists in Iowa want from the rest of the population when they write cranky editorials that finger-wag at the rest of us for not doing anything on MLK's holiday.

Haven't we named enough roads and schools after King?

And to twist the old Chris Rock joke: "I don't care where you live in America, if you're on Martin Luther King Boulevard, there's some violence going on." Is that the white man's fault anymore? Is that the Dixiecrat's fault? Is that the South's fault in this day and age?


Update: How about New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin who today said that "God" wants New Orleans to be a majority black city. Utterly pathetic and disgusting. Can you imagine a white mayor saying that "God" wants his or her city to be a majority white city? Nagin is a racist puke. Dr King is turning over in his grave, for sure. What a fucking joke.

John Skipper: Is it better to be young or old?

John Skipper, in his always-excellent Mason City Globe Gazette blog, poses the question: "Is it better to be young or old?"

Anti-War Crowd In Iowa City Dwindles To 45

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Undaunted by near freezing temperatures and a nagging wind, about 45 people turned out for a peace vigil Sunday evening in front of the Johnson County Administration Building, 913 S. Dubuque St.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and his teachings against violence, gatherers of diverse ages converged for prayer, King readings and songs, such as "We Shall Overcome" and "This Little Light of Mine." Afterward, bundled gatherers marched in a candlelight procession around the National Guard Armory and concluded with an ecumenical prayer service.

Named the "Shine the Light with Peace Vigil," the purpose was to hold up King's message against the violence in Iraq...

"We had a great man in Martin Luther King, who spoke out against violence. And yet in 2006, we still handle every problem with violence. Raising kids, you teach them not to hit. Yet, as a country what are we teaching them?" said Sara Baird, who attended with her partner, Renee, and their two children, aged 5 and 3.

The Consolation Prize

Political Forecast takes issue with Jane Norman's piece in the Register today on the Iowa aspects of the Abramoff scandal:

The article is a long profile of the involvement Jack Abramoff and his tribal clients had with four members of Iowa’s Congressional delegation: Sens. Tom Harkin (D) and Chuck Grassley (R), and Reps. Tom Latham (R) and Jim Nussle (R). Her piece isn’t as bad as the assertion made by Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell that even Democrats accepted money from Jack Abramoff–which just isn’t true.

The only tough questions to Democrats are coming from GOP groups and organizations that are simply trying to make a point by claiming that their corruption isn’t bad because Democrats do it to. It is probably one of the most ridiculous things the GOP media team has done in recent ye…I mean months. There are no ethical or criminal inquiries into any Democrats’ dealings with Abramoff or his tribal clients. The implications that this is a bipartisan scandal is horrendously incorrect.

Oh really?

This is from the USA Today in early December 2005:

As Sen. Tom Harkin drafted letters to the Bush administration on behalf of an Iowa tribe, he had no shortage of ideas for wording: A tribal lobbyist who donated to the Democrat's campaign suggested language for him to use.

Harkin wrote at least three letters in 2003 pressing the government to release federal money to help the Sac & Fox tribe in his state cope with the temporary closing of its casino due to a tribal dispute, according to Interior Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and records provided by Harkin's office.

In doing so, Harkin accepted input from Sac & Fox lobbyist Michael D. Smith, a member of Jack Abramoff's tribal lobbying team at the Greenberg Traurig law firm. Smith met with the senator and also offered suggestions for the letters, Harkin spokeswoman Allison Dobson said.

"Absolutely, he did contribute to those letters," Dobson said, adding that she wasn't sure what Smith's suggestions were. Harkin also met with lobbyists on the other side of the dispute, she said.

Harkin is among dozens of members of Congress who wrote letters that benefited tribal clients of Abramoff's lobbying team while collecting political contributions from Abramoff, his clients or his lobbying associates.

Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Need a free sample?

Actually, we have the perfect gift for the Political Forecast: how about a 4 piece set of garden tools, suitable for scratching below the surface and digging in the dirt, and a blue knee pad.

Open Records In Iowa

There's a big opinion piece in the Des Moines Register today on the cost and difficulty of obtaining public records throughout Iowa.

We'd like to see the Des Moines Register use their monopoly corporate bully pulpit to demand an upgrade to the shitty 1992-era system the State uses when it comes to tracking political donations to non-Federal candidates.

Another Serving Of Federal Pork For SE Iowa?

From the Burlington Hawk Eye:

Southeast Iowa is in the running for a $15 million federal grant designed to bolster the community's work force and create more attractive conditions both for residents and businesses...

Let's see if we have this straight. If the grant is won, the money put of our grandchildren's grandchildren's charge card will go towards the following:

• Creation of a Young Professionals networking group
• Enhancement of a business masterbater
• Free use of a laptop for three years by certain high school sophomores
• Permanent ownership of the laptop if they continue on to certain SE Iowa higher education institutions
• Higher education tuition reimbursement
  
• Wireless internet access so the student can download free wAreZ and pr0n.

Finally, this:

Copies of the application were sent by the consortium to the area's congressional delegation, including Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley and Rep. Jim Leach.

Nice to see that both of Iowa's senators and Jim Leach are really concerned about pork-barrel spending.

Blunts, Boners, and Delays

Not Iowa-related, but we had to make this joke:

Looks like the House Republicans are choosing a Blunt over a Boehner when replacing a DeLay in leadership.

Liveblogging Ed Fallon on Jan Mickelson's Radio Show

Liveblogging Ed Fallon's appearance on Jan Mickelson's radio show on WHO-AM:

10:07am - Ed Fallon jokes about seeing two cars the other day broken down with his candidacy's bumperstickers on them.

10:08am - Big banter about Mickelson's gun rack in his truck, the size of Mickelson's gun rack, and joking about the bullet holes in Fallon's car.

10:09am - Fallon's kind of annoyed that the Democratic caucuses are held on MLK Jr holiday.

10:10am - These guys are really joking around. Having a good time. Fallon explains what an "off year caucus" is for.

10:11am - Fallon talking about money scandals like Abramoff and Knapp. Mickelson brings up Hillary's recent fines.

10:12am - Fallon complaining about the Register not profiling the caucuses until Monday - that day. Fallon says that Fox and WHO-AM (owned by Clear Channel) have mentioned it much earlier.

10:14am - Why do you want to be governor? Justice, services, not catering to corporate interests and lobbyists who drive up taxes. Fallon thinks a lot of people attending the caucuses aren't necessarily party oriented. More concerned about issues.

5 things Fallon would do as governor?

1. Clean Elections Law

Long banter about Abramoff and gambling money.

Fallon: "I think we have Abramoffs here in Iowa"

Mickelson: Solution isn't campaign finance reform.

2. Support for public schools. Universities on down

3. Health care.

4. Economic development without corporate welfare

Fallon: Iowa Values Fund messes with the free market.

Mickelson: What do people (those who are bribing politicians) want from government?

Fallon: Driven by greed. A hand that maximizes their profit.

Fallon: Repeats the Bill Knapp/IDoT scandal and the Chet Culver quote, "Bill Knapp's going to get me elected."

Fallon and Mickelson go on about the headlines in the Register. Mickelson goes off on the homelessness article and calls it mostly "irresponsible behavior" and that "government is causing this problem" by giving her welfare. Fallon responds by bitching about Wal-Mart and Medicaid. Mickelson agrees and goes on about IBP.

Fallon: "This is a wild relationship we have, Jan" on agreeing and disagreeing.

10:25am: Mickelson: "Ed Fallon sometimes make sense, and sometimes he doesn't listen to me." Lots of laughs.

Break.

10:29 - Fallon talking about the caucuses again. 515-244-3113 to call Fallon's campaign about caucuses. It's about party platform and supporting a particular candidate. If 15% of caucus goers want to break into groups to support a candidate they can.

10:31am - Fallon refers to Steve King as "Steven King" when talking about King's campaign in the past when his congressional race went to the Republican convention due to a large field of candidates.

10:32am - Fallon: We want an accordion player at each caucus!

10:33am - Mickelson says other candidates haven't agreed to come on his show, despite being invited. Fallon says he's having a good time being on the radio.

10:33am - First caller, bitching to Mickelson about his comments on the homeless story in the Register, brings up the Jesus story. Mickelson keeps this nut on way too long. Mickelson says black illegitimatacy rate in Des Moines is 90%. Goes off on a big rant about how to avoid it (stay in school, don't have babies out of wedlock, support your family).

10:36am - Break

10:41am - Back with Ed Fallon. Another caller named Jane: "99% of legislators take money" - Jane goes on about the extra casinos and the TouchPlay Slottery Machines. "If Ed can run without lobbying money...." Ed says he's the only one who doesn't take money. Says he is not rich. Lives in the inner city of Des Moines on a low income. No money from PACs and caps individual amounts. Iowa is the only state that allows no limit for state candidates. 2005 legislature leadership wouldn't pass a $500 cap on money from individuals to state candidates. Really good call. Mickelson: most lobbyists are former legislators. Fallon: There's a two year limit from being a politician to being a lobbyist, but a lot of people do this. Mickelson sort of defends lobbyists. Jane says most people belong to a group who lobbys. Fallon: Most lobbyists have private clients who want something: insurance industry, corporate hog confinements, etc. Fallon thinks if the task force doesn't put the kibosh on the Slottery machines then the Legislature will.

10:47am - Linda talks about a letter in the Register today about religion and then asks Fallon: "Are you pro-life or pro-choice?" Fallon is a very religious person, has a degree. Not denominational. Attends a Methodist church. Mickelson: "He's a recovering Catholic!" Fallon: "I'm not a recovering Catholic!" - Fallon is not personally for abortion but is libertarian and is pro-choice. Prefers to bring people together to discuss how to decrease abortions. Linda is clearly pro-life and goes off on Planned Parenthood.

10:51am - Mickelson brings up the gay marriage state constitutional amendment. Fallon says it would go from the Legislature to the people to vote on, so if he was governor he wouldn't be involved.

10:52am - Break

10:56 - Back. Mickelson says he's out of time.

Time To Order Your Girl Scout Cookies

According to the Press-Citizen, or talking to anybody you know who has a young daughter, today's the first day you can order them.