State 29 Is Done

The State 29 blog is Done.

Vilsack To Slottery Critics: Shut Up

From Radio Iowa:

Governor Tom Vilsack said today he's still not had a chance to read the transcripts of legislative committee testimony that set off a controversy surrounding Iowa Lottery Director Ed Stanek. Key Republican leaders said Thursday they've lost confidence in Stanek after Stanek said a republican lawmaker gave the go-ahead to put the controversial TouchPlay lottery machines in convenience stores.

Vilsack says he's not ready to make any comment on the issue yet. "I'm not at this point in time in the middle of this uh, this uh, contest between folks. I'd be happy to look at the transcripts, but I think it's important for everybody to kind of tone down the rhetoric a little bit, and lets focus on the real problems here," Vilsack says.

The problem is that Iowa Slottery Chief Ed Stanek has decided to put slot machines in every county in Iowa, ostensibly as a replacement for pull-tabs. Even counties that have voted down casino gambling are now stuck with these machines.

We predict that Vilsack and the phony commission will punt on this issue. These big government types have no problem selling out the people of Iowa as long as the State's coffers and the bank accounts of political bribers like Kum & Go's Bill Krause get fatter. The commission may try to throw a bone at slottery opponents by proposing legislation that increases the fines for people who let children close the machines, but that will be about it.

Cities and counties will be forced to file lawsuit after lawsuit against the State; lawsuits ultimately paid for by the taxpayers. Will some win? Who knows, but it'll take years to adjudicate. What a fucking ripoff. There is no way that these government officials are going to put the genie back in the bottle and remove all the Slottery machines from Iowa's convenience stores, dry cleaners, and bowling alleys. We are going to be stuck with this shit.

Iowa is already seeing a proliferation of people hocking their cars to LoanMax for Slottery money. People are trying to fake slottery tickets in order to obtain fraudulent winnings. Burglaries and robberies seem to be on the increase. Problem gamblers are being lured back to their addictions by having these slottery machines everywhere. Kids have been observed feeding money into the machines for mommy or daddy to play.

It's all tied together, folks. Big corporate money donating big sums of money to political candidates so they can turn their head and cough while Iowa gets fucked. If you think otherwise, you're a fool.

A sexual device is any three-dimensional item designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs

Here's some of the text from HF 2163, recently introduced in the Iowa Legislature on the House side:

728.2 DISSEMINATION AND EXHIBITION OF OBSCENE MATERIAL OR SEXUAL DEVICES TO MINORS.

Any person, other than the parent or guardian of the minor, who knowingly disseminates or exhibits obscene material or a sexual device to a minor, including the exhibition of obscene material or a sexual device so that it can be observed by a minor on or off the premises where it is displayed, is guilty of a public offense and shall upon conviction be guilty of a serious misdemeanor. A sexual device is any three-dimensional item designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.

This has to be one of the goofiest pieces of legislation in the Iowa Statehouse since a whole bunch of politicians, mostly Democrats, wanted a 25% tax on dildos a couple years ago.

Is there some sort of widespread problem in Iowa with kids wandering into adult-oriented stores and wanting to buy a Sybian or Venus 2000, a Rabbit Pearl, or even a Hitachi Magic Wand? And what's wrong with it, anyway?

Also, if mom gives her teenage daughter permission to experience her Sybian then the State says it's OK? That's strange.

Here are the legislators who have nothing better to do than come up with this crap. And they're all Democrats. Most people would assume that anti-sexual device legislation would be written by a bunch of uptight Republicans, but it's not so here in Iowa:


Dawn Pettengill, Democrat


Deborah Berry, Democrat


Bob Kressig, Democrat


Dick Taylor, Democrat


Dolores Mertz, Democrat


Roger Thomas, Democrat


Polly Bukta, Democrat


John Whitaker, Democrat


Tom Schueller, Democrat


Mary Gaskill, Democrat

1040 Checklist

Joe at the Tax Update Blog has an excellent checklist for assembling tax information before heading out to your CPA or before using your favorite tax preparation software.

Alma Matters

From the Anderson Herald Bulletin in Indiana:

Now 8-1 between the limestone walls of the architectural nightmare known as Assembly Hall, IU stands 3-4 in road games played on the opponent’s campus (wins against Kentucky and Butler took place at the RCA Dome and Conseco Fieldhouse, respectively).

Worse, the Hoosiers are 0-3 in Big Ten road games.

Throw in the fact that Davis appears to recruit his home state of Alabama better than he does the goldmine laid out in front of him — hardly an endearing quality to Indiana backers — and his off-court decisions are being questioned as passionately as his ability to motivate his players away from Assembly Hall.

We've always felt that if Mike Davis didn't work out as the Indiana Men's Basketball coach then they'd call up Mr Basketball himself, Steve Alford, Iowa's current coach, as Davis's successor.

If Roy Williams can go home again, so can Steve Alford.

It wouldn't surprise us. They all move on, eventually.

The Day The Music Died

From the Mason City Globe Gazette:

In the early morning of Feb. 3, 1959, a plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed in a field north of Clear Lake, killing all three rock performers and pilot Roger Peterson. Only hours earlier, they had performed at the Surf as part of the Winter Dance Party tour.

For more on Buddy Holly and past tributes, visit http://www.globegazette.com/northiowatoday/buddyholly/pages

The Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations

Jim Hussey, writing in the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

The Iowa City School Board, like the Mid-Prairie board on which I serve, has seven volunteers who believe they are doing what's right for our students. Unfortunately, when it comes to athletic eligibility, I believe my neighbors are absolutely wrong.

The Iowa City board wrote, in a group editorial, "the State Board of Education is saying under its proposal that a student with a .75 Grade Point Average (D-) and no Fs is eligible and a student on the honor roll with a 3.4 GPA (B+) and one F is ineligible."

I hate to be cynical, but this 3.4 kid is a myth. He or she doesn't exist, except as an intellectual abstraction to justify ongoing failure by real student-athletes --according to the Press-Citizen, 39 at West High, 26 at City High, at last count, and hundreds more in districts across Iowa, including my own.

These kids deserve more than statistical sophistry. If Iowa City could show me one student with a 3.4 GPA on its list of would-be ineligibles, I'd reconsider, but until then this argument is about using bad math by people who know better to excuse poor performance by students who don't.

When the board writes, "We know that students who connect with a school by participating in extra-curricular activities statistically achieve at a higher level than those who are non-participants," they've either overlooked or chosen to ignore the obvious. For the specific students failing classes, this relationship is, by definition, false. An F is not higher-level achievement; it's lower-level achievement, and even our least able students understand that.

The board adds, "Our ELL, special needs students and students in poverty will be greatly affected by these rule changes." To his credit, President Bush speaks of the "soft bigotry of low expectations," but I'm even more persuaded by Jonathon Narcisse, founder of the State of Black Iowa Initiative, who recently wrote of a down-and-out former Des Moines-area star who now sells his body to finance his addictions.

"The argument in his day was that poor kids and black kids needed sports to stay out of trouble, to stay in school," wrote Narcisse. "The truth then, as it is now: We don't give a damn about these kids. They entertain us."

...How about this? Let's take Iowa City's 65 failing students and determine their average GPA. Even in our grade-inflated age, there's no way it approaches a 3.4; I'm guessing a 1.7. Give me the grades, a spreadsheet and two minutes, and we can answer that question and start on the real issues: Where do we draw the line? How much failure do we tolerate? And who will pay for our permissiveness?

Absolutely killer op-ed. Love the "show me the numbers" attitude. Very well done.

Slottery Kum Action

From Des Moines Cityview Online's Civic Skinny column this week:

As we first reported in this column a few weeks back, the battle between the Iowa Lottery's TouchPlay program and gambling interests has come down to a "pissing match" between business moguls Gary Kirke (Wild Rose Casino) and Bill Krause (Kum & Go) "pulling out all the stops to go after each other." A Democrat, as well as a Republican official in the House, told us that it looks as if the machines - all of them, even the ones in the pipeline - are here to stay, and that Congressional candidate Jeff Lamberti's family (Casey's General Stores) will be the next group at the trough with 1,000 machines on the way (Casey's would not return our calls). The strict standards we said leaders were leaning toward two weeks ago - more security, less visibility - seem to be sticking, but we're also told that it is feasible, "the machines will be muted." Kum & Go's machines alone are seeing some $640,000 a week in action, we were told.

They may be staying for now, but expect to see numerous lawsuits from counties and cities who don't approve of this "replacement for pull tabs" down the road. We expect the first set of lawsuits to come from counties who have rejected casino gambling in the past.

Christopher Rants: Mob Rules

Updated below:



History: Christopher Rants Is A $40,000 Sellout To The Legalized Loansharking Industry In Iowa

Gigantic hat tip for the initial piece below: Daily Davenport Politics

From the September 2, 1998 edition of Willamette Week, Portland's alternative weekly, by Nigel Jaquiss:

Like many of the companies that set up shop here this summer, Title Loans of America, Inc. has southern roots. Unlike any of the other companies WW researched, Title Loans also has connections to an alleged mobster.

On July 23, 1998, Title Loans of America, Inc., a Georgia-based company, registered as an Oregon corporation.

Roderick Aycox, who many consider the king of title lending, established the company in Atlanta in 1994. His business is reportedly the largest and fastest-growing car-title lender in the country, now operating hundreds of offices in at least 13 states.

Much of the available information about Aycox comes from depositions taken during a wrongful-death case involving a Georgia resident who was killed by a repo man after missing a payment to Aycox's company.

The case was settled--but not before Aycox divulged some important details, most notably that his financial backing came from Alvin Malnik, a Florida lawyer. Malnik is the beneficiary of a trust that owns half of Title Loans of America's stock. He is more famous, or notorious, for other reasons.

According to The New York Times, Malnik was a long-time associate of the legendary mob financier Meyer Lansky. In 1980, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission found that he "associated with persons engaged in organized criminal activities, and that he himself participated in transactions that were clearly illegitimate and illegal... Moreover, federal law enforcement authorities have long believed Mr. Malnik to be engaged in organized crime."

Malnik, in an article published in Consumer Reports magazine, called such allegations "entirely baseless." Still, he remains persona non grata with New Jersey gambling authorities. His mere presence at Caesar's Atlantic City Hotel and Casino in 1992 provoked a lengthy inquiry into that facility's management.

Although Title Loans of America has not yet begun lending in Oregon, it has connections to Northwestern Title Loans, the state's largest title lender. Northwestern is solely owned by Allen Aycox, Rod Aycox's father. The two have been partners in Georgia businesses.

Neither the Division of Finance and Corporate Securities nor the Attorney General's office was aware of Malnik's connection to these companies, even though Northwestern, as required by law, submitted to a background check as part of its application process.

Some background on Meyer Lansky at Wikipedia. He was the basis for the Hyman Roth character in The Godfather, Part II movie.

And more about Mr Malnik from Forward - Jewish Community Magazine:

As late as the 1990s, he says, Alvin Malnik, Lansky's one-time attorney, and the man who was dubbed by Reader's Digest as Lansky's "heir apparent," remained a highly visible personality in Florida. Although he has never been convicted of a crime, Mr. Malnik has long been under the scrutiny of federal and state prosecutors. Some Florida law enforcement officials have pointed to him over the years as living proof that the Lansky organization did not die with Lansky.

In a 1980 decision, reaffirmed in 1993, the New Jersey Gaming Commission banned Mr [Malnik] from the state's casinos, citing links to organized crime figures that dates back half a century. He had been linked to Sam Cohen, who was indicted along with Lansky on charges of skimming $30 million in profits from the Flamingo Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Mr. Malnik and Mr. Cohen in 1971 bought 325 acres of undeveloped land that belonged to a Dade County country club and ultimately squeezed a $14.7 million profit from the sale of the land.

In 1997, Mr. Malnik's name surfaced in connection with a probe into the lucrative title loan industry in Florida.

And more at the Chattanooga Free Press (cached):

One title pawn broker in Hamilton County is Alvin Malnik, owner of Title Loans of America and its local subsidiary, Tennessee Title Loans.

The Miami restaurateur and developer has been identified in FBI reports and by the state of New Jersey as connected to late organized crime financier Meyer Lansky.

In the early 1990s, the New Jersey Casino Commission opened an investigation into two Atlantic City casinos for letting Mr. Malnik through the door, reports show. Commissioners cited law enforcement reports that concluded Mr. Malnik was "an associate of Meyer Lansky and was himself involved in organized crime."

Mr. Malnik has never been convicted of a crime and consistently has denied participating in organized crime, but he has admitted to being Mr. Lansky's attorney.

Mr. Malnik operates title pawn shops in Hamilton County on Highway 153 and Ringgold Road in East Ridge, records show. Officials with Tennessee Title Loans did not return calls for comment for this story.

In 2000, The Oregonian reported that Title Loans of America had received at least $6 million in loans from union pension funds to finance the growth of its business in a deal brokered by an investment company under federal investigation for fraud.

The loans were brokered by Portland, Ore.-based Capital Consultants, which itself came under investigation by federal agents for fraud over its investments, the newspaper reported.

Another lender doing business locally is Atlanta entrepreneur Rod Aycox, who owns 150 title loan stores in 20 states, including Northeastern Title Loans on Brainerd Road.

Until he sold his interest in 1998, Mr. Aycox was partners with Mr. Malnik in Title Loans of America. Now he is one of Mr. Malnik's largest competitors, he said.

Mr. Aycox defended the high interest allowed to title lenders as "very competitive" with other types of short-term loans, such as paycheck advance loans or bank overdraft protection fees.

Mr. Aycox contributes to political campaigns across the nation. Recently, he contributed to the campaign of U.S. Senate candidate Barak Obama of Illinois, a Democrat, and in 2003 gave $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee.

In 1998, The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville reported that Mr. Aycox was the largest individual contributor in state elections, giving $27,450 to 63 candidates. In 2000, The Oregonian reported that Mr. Aycox was a top contributor to Republican candidates in the Oregon Legislature after Democrats there tried to reign in the 372 percent title loan interest rate allowed in that state.

Mr. Aycox said there is no connection between his political giving and his business interests.

"Politics is my hobby," he said. "I support good government."

Christopher Rants, the best politician that money can buy in Iowa.


Update: We need to clarify our opinion here. We think the car-title loan business is a disgrace that preys on poor and dumb people. But it's the state legislature that sets the limits on interest rates. And since Iowa politicians can be bought by anybody for any price, it's no surprise that this industry has sprung up here. Same thing with gambling, massive hog lots, and all that.

Personally, we don't care about Rod Aycox. He's just working the system. Can't blame him. He's going to do what the politicians are going to allow him to do in order for him to run his business. Simple as that.

But when Iowans keeps electing politicians as filthy and disgusting as Christopher Rants and Willard Jenkins, that's where we have a problem. Scumbags like Rants and Jenkins, both Republicans, stand in the way of campaign finance reform, disclosure, and limiting influence peddling.

Some people think that electing Republicans is important, no matter how dirty they are, because they want a death penalty in Iowa. But what's more important? Is it the death penalty or is it limiting the money, limiting the influence peddling, and getting cancers like Christopher Rants out of public office at the State level? We think the latter is more important.

Leana Stormont Update

From the American Chronicle:

Caring About Animals is Not a Crime by Leana Stormont

It was about this time last year when I learned that the FBI was stealing my garbage. It’s not every day you walk out your front door to find a man wearing a suit and sunglasses in an unmarked grey sedan offering your trash a private escort to an undisclosed location.

I was in my third year of law school and actively involved in animal rights. I opposed the experiments on animals carried out in my university's laboratories and was actively working with student groups on campus to draw attention to the suffering endured by the thousands of animals who are dying behind locked laboratory doors all over this country every single day. Apparently I was loud enough to become a blip on the FBI’s radar screen.

By challenging cruel and wasteful research, bought and paid for by American taxpayers, I became a strange sort of celebrity. I attracted a curious breed of paparazzi at on-campus lectures and educational events. Men with video equipment recorded every dull move I made and photographed me while I was engaged in such mundane behaviors as attending a lecture or introducing a guest speaker.

You'll want to read the whole thing.

It's interesting how Stormont doesn't condemn the terrorism and burglary at Seashore Hall in 2004. According to the news stories we've followed, she never has. No wonder she was a target by the FBI - she was so vocal and noisy after the terrorism and burglary.

And she should continue to be watched by the Feds until they find out who was responsible. Somebody get a wiretap.

Ed Fallon Might Have A Fondness For Organically Grown Vegetables

We don't have any idea what this is, other than maybe an attempt by the Register to smear Ed Fallon.

You know, the Register can only casually mention a $40,000 donation from some greedy insider trader from Dallas to the Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman campaign the day after a measly little blogger uncovers it, but they've got to copyright this Ed Fallon "hit" piece.

New Ben & Jerry's Flavor: Nutty Red Moonbat

From the Boston Glob:

Ice cream entrepreneur Ben Cohen, the Ben in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, kicked off an Iowa campaign on Tuesday to put the freeze on wasteful military spending, diverting as much as $60 billion to social programs.

"It seems to me that every four years candidates come through Iowa and it's always all talk, nothing ever changes. Our schools are still crumbling, children still need health care, there's still this energy crisis and millions of kids are still starving around the world," Cohen said.

The guy made ice cream for a living and he's bitching about starving people around the world?

It gets even dumberer:

Cohen's idea is to take $60 billion from wasteful military programs.

He would use $10 billion each for education, health care, energy independence and debt reduction; $15 billion for world hunger and $5 billion for job retraining of laid off workers.

Iowa would receive about $350 million under the plan, enough money to provide a year's worth of health insurance to all children who don't have it, renovate Iowa's most dilapidated schools and offer job training to workers laid off by large companies, Huppert said.

Typical socialist twaddle.

Iowa has exactly 1% of this country's population, but the percentage of $350 million out of $60 billion is 0.583%.

The number of uninsured children in Iowa could be almost zero if parents who qualified signed up for the Hawk-I program.

And since when did it become the Federal government's job to spend money on fixing schools?

Cohen also wants to give billions to crooked foreign dictatorships to supposedly "feed" all their starving babies. That never works.

And look who supports all this bullshit:

Des Moines businessman David Hurd, former chairman of the Principal Financial Group, and businesswoman Connie Wimer, owner of Business Publications Corp., spoke in favor of the organization.

Well, why not? Jump on the bandwagon and leech off these losers because none of their stupid ideas will ever be implemented.

Cohen and his gang are spending $1 million and hiring 8 people over the next two years. Anybody need a job?

Iowa Ranks Third In Wind Energy

Via Treehugger:

It's one thing to have a consistent breeze, but quite another to beat some big blowhards to the Megawatt punch. So here's to mighty Iowa, keeping it's rank as third in the nation for windpower output. Iowa installed 201.65 megawatts of new wind energy last year, according to figures by the American Wind Energy Association. Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy accounted for most of Iowa's new wind capacity in 2005, completing a $386 million, 257-turbine project in two northern Iowa sites. Up to another 3,000 Megawatts of capacity is expected to be installed this year.

The Return Of The Duesenberg?

Some history:

Fred Duesenberg and August Duesenberg came to Des Moines Iowa from Rockford, in about 1900 to establish a bicycle shop. The Duesenberg's wanted to produce a automobile in about 1906. They had Des Moines Lawyer, Edward B. Mason to finance the their design and the building the first Mason automobile. While F. L. Maytag was still using washers as a way to fill the seasonal slumps in farm equipment production, his interest turned to a new development in manufacturing the automobile. He was taken with the success of a Des Moines, Iowa. builder of autos, Edward Mason, Maytag decided to invest in the company. In 1909, he did just that, purchasing 3/5's of the company, Owning $75,000 of the $125,000 for which the company had capitalized. Mason Automobile Co. became known as the Maytag-Mason Motor Co, with the production facilities being moved from Des Moines to Waterloo, Iowa. Accompanying the Mason name and background came two of the most famous designers and builders of cars in the early days of automotive engineering, Fred and August Duesenberg. Their knowledge and craftsmanship contributed almost totally to the success of the Mason and later the Maytag-Mason automobile. When F. L. Maytag joined with Mason to build cars, the Mason was a 2-cylinder model that was noted for its hill-climbing ability. The chain-driven automobile had a horizontally opposed engine of 5-inch bore and 5-inch stroke. located under the floor board at about the center of the car. The crankshaft ran crosswise so that it could be cranked from the right side.

Of the few Maytag-Mason automobiles still in existence is a 2-cylinder, 24 horsepower car on exhibit in the Maytag company's museum in Newton, Iowa. It weighs 1,950 pounds, has a 96-inch wheel base and-travels at a top speed of 45. m.p.h. When it was manufactured in 1910, it sold for $1,350. In 1910 a 4-cylinder auto was introduced by the Maytag-Mason Motor Co. Priced from $1,250 to $1,750, and available in six models.. it was considered one of the finest autos in its price class for that era. This car, also noted for its hill climbing ability, soon was the bearer of a gear drive which replaced the original chain-drive. With all of the knowledge of the Duesenberg's and the backing of the Masons and Maytag's, however, the car was not the success the 2-cylinder had been. Stiff competition in the then new but growing automobile industry made it hard on the Maytag-Mason Motor Co. F.L. Maytag sold his stock in the Maytag-Mason Co. to William Galloway, a Waterloo industrialist, June 29 1910. The company's name was change back the Mason Motor company January 12 1912. Fred Maytag never ventured in to automobile making again. Maytag lost a considerable investment in the auto undertaking, as did a number of his friends who had bought stock. However, 12 years later, although not obligated to do so, Fred Maytag paid back the stockholders losses to the amount of somewhere over $20,000. Fred and August Duesenberg went on to create there very well built automobiles for the rich and famous.

With Errett Cord, the Duesenbergs built 481 super luxury coaches for Hollywood stars and royalty from the late 1920s until bankruptcy in 1937.

Then we have this recent piece from Businessweek:

It has been nearly 70 years since the last Duesenberg rolled off the assembly line, but the super-stylish king of American luxury automobiles is about to be resurrected. Duesenberg, the Maple Plain (Minn.) company that bought the trademark in 1996, has announced that next year its sister company, Duesenberg Custom Coach, plans to unveil the Duesenberg Torpedo Coupe...

To infuse the car with a literal sense of power -- and an innovative edge over other luxury vehicles -- Teague and David Hartje, CEO of Duesenberg Custom Coach, are planning to outfit it with a groundbreaking new engine designed by Eddie Paul, an El Segundo (Calif.) car designer and principal of E.P. Industries.

Known for the one-off cars he's created for Hollywood films like The Fast and the Furious, Paul is developing a superlight-weight, fuel-efficient engine called the Cylindrical Energy Module (CEM) engine. The design is based on a pump that Paul patented in 1992 that's used by firefighters and the U.S. Forestry Dept. The three men believe its possible debut in the new Duesie will associate the revivified brand with the same spirit of innovation that the original company was known for.

Paul's 12-cylinder engine is scalable, and prototypes have been made in sizes as small as that of an average watermelon and weighing only 100 pounds each (some car engines can reach 1,000 pounds in weight). Unlike most car engines, which are stationary, the CEM rotates and in the process draws the car's fuel in to self-lubricate. As a result, no oil pump is necessary.

The mechanism features just one spark plug at each end and emits one-sixth of the heat of a typical car engine, so it can be air-cooled. It's also designed to accommodate both standard and diesel fuel.

The engine sounds more exciting than anything else.

It won't be built in Iowa, of course.

New Furnace?

Hal Weidner of Davenport, writing to the Quad City Times:

I installed a high efficiency furnace eight years ago. To determine the effects of this change, I compared the last eight years of gas usage (1998-2005) with the previous eight years (1990-97). This comparison indicated an average gas reduction of 521 cubic feet per year. The actual dollar comparisons were somewhat higher (up 3.3 percent) due to the increased cost of the gas (up 76 percent.) However without the new furnace my costs would have been about $460 per year higher.

Why am I boring you with these numbers? If you have an older furnace and are interested in saving a few bucks in the future and reducing demand on gas supplies, then this seems a good way to do it. The cost avoidance should be greater in the future since gas rates will almost certainly increase. In 12 of the past 16 years they have increased. The government might look at this for utility assistance program cost avoidance.

Great letter and excellent advice, although we're unsure about the idea of taxpayers giving furnaces to poor people.

Alliant Energy also has an online calculator available to project future savings.


Update: Don't forget the $150 tax credit for an efficient furnace installed this year, unless, of course, you pay alternative minimum tax. (Hat tip: Tax Update Blog)

Christopher Rants Is A $40,000 Sellout To The Legalized Loansharking Industry In Iowa

From the Des Moines Register:

The owner of the state's largest car title loan company has over the past year poured more than $54,000 into Iowa politics, while legislation to place restrictions on the controversial industry has languished.

The amount contributed by LoanMax owner Rod Aycox of Alpharetta, Ga., signals how hard one man is working to keep away new regulations that he contends would cripple his business.

Iowa activists have been trying for the past year to pass legislation to cap the interest rates on car title loans that can reach as high as 360 percent a year. Critics, including Gov. Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Tom Miller, call the practice abusive and say it leads to poor Iowans losing their vehicles, which are put up as collateral.

Top Iowa Statehouse leaders have received campaign contributions from Aycox over the past year, as have some members of a committee that deals with such regulations, state campaign finance records show.

The largest amount — $40,000 — went to a conservative Republican leadership organization with ties to House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, federal records show.

Several House Democrats, including Minority Leader Pat Murphy, received money only to return it after learning more about the industry and the contributor.

Christopher Rants makes us want to puke.

What a dirty, filthy bastard you Republicans have running the Iowa House.

Who says that money doesn't buy influence? Rod Aycox, the head of LoanMax, has the crooked Christopher Rants bought and paid for. We documented this last spring.

It should also be noted that Rants essentially started the "Iowa Leadershit Council" by loaning them the money to get started.

So, essentially, the Iowa Leadershit Council just appears to be a way for Rants to funnel huge amounts of dirty money into the state. That fucker belongs in prison.

The Daily Davenport Politics blog is also reporting that Jim Lykam, a Democrat in the Iowa Legislature, accepted $1450 in campaign payoffs from Aycox throughout 2005.

We have no love for My Aycox. His business preys on the dumbest of the poor with outrageous APRs for car-title loans. Aycox even hired race-baiter, Jew-hater, and liar Al Sharpton to do ads for LoanMax late in 2005.


Update: Even the Political Forecast has a post on this issue today. Somehow we suspect that if the Forecast's man was Christopher Rants instead of Chet Culver, he'd be defending Rants's filthy legalized bribery.

The University of Iowa Is Freaking Out

The Daily Iowan has an editorial today concerning who should conduct a search for and select the next president of the University of Iowa:

Today, the state Board of Regents will formally announce the composition of a panel tasked with replacing outgoing UI President David Skorton. It is already clear, however, that the regents intend to depart from the approach that has produced our university's presidents since the 1960s. The change has caused something of an uproar among UI faculty, staff, and students - and not without reason. The regents would do far better to leave the process alone.

Under the previous system, a search committee composed of UI faculty, staff, and students would pare down scores of candidates - more than 100 in Skorton's case - to a few finalists. The regents had a minimal role in this process, but they did decide which finalist ultimately got the job. Now, regents appear set to lead on the search committee as well, mirroring a process introduced at the University of Northern Iowa that has rankled faculty there. No justification has been offered, beyond vague theories about the regents' proper role...


In addition to practical concerns over the direction a search led by regents will take, UI staff have undoubtedly been insulted by feeling like they were left out of the process. By unilaterally changing the search process, the regents are effectively saying that the staff members have done an inadequate job in the past.

On what planet do the employees of a company get to decide who is going to be hired as the Head Cheese?

Sorry, ivory tower dwellers, but in the Real World we have things called the Board of Directors. They get to decide who will be hired. Sometimes they use the Human Resources department. Sometimes they contract out to headhunters. But, ultimately, the decision is made by the Board.

The staff are probably freaking out because their cushy-for-life jobs and hardcore lefty intelligentsia might be challenged if the Regents hire somebody to come in and run the joint like a business. How dare they!

For once, we're kind of on Michael Gartner's side. We've never liked Gartner; he's always been a slimeball. But nothing can be funnier than watching one group of elitist liberals (Gartner, Ruth Harkin, other Regents, et al) upset another group of elitist liberals (UI staff).

Tiny Tom Endorses Kent Dorfman

Tom Daschle, the Senate Minority Leader until he got bounced from office by the voters of South Dakota, has endorsed Kent "Chet Culver" Dorfman for Iowa governor.

Daschle perfected the art of sleazy politics in the 1990s by having his lawyer wife, Linda, lobby for zillions in taxpayer-financed corporate welfare on behalf of the fatcats in the airline industry. It's the sort of legalized bribery that Tom and Ruth Harkin could never achieve and Jim Ross Nussle and his Second Wife can only dream about.

Iowa Rainforest and Abe Vigoda, Both Not Dead Yet

From Radio Iowa:

The end of the month was a deadline for towns with an interest in the Iowa Rainforest Project to send in financial information. Executive Director David Oman says despite delays and setbacks, the project is still alive and to prove it, asked towns around the state to send proof that they might have the financial ability to host it. Oman says about a month ago they decided to send out a request for information. Now the information's come in, it looks like they'll have about a dozen sites to consider.

Oman says they've heard from a number of cities still interested in taking part in the project.Oman says they've heard from a number of cities and developers including Dubuque, Pella, Grinnell, and Tiffin and expect to hear from two or three more. And by the end of the day they'd also gotten a report from Riverside, where a new casino is under construction and some promoters have said an indoor rainforest would be just the family attraction to add to it.

He adds that a number of people have been positive about having it in Des Moines, including Mayor Cownie. Oman says "He gets it, he understands the project celebrates education and the environment," though he can't say what city leaders might say about Des Moines vying to get the rain forest.

Oman says the indoor rain forest will be one of the country's largest "green buildings," powered by alternative and renewable sources of energy. He says there'll be a lot of environmental content inside and outside, all aimed at bringing a million visitors to its site in Iowa and he figured it'll "kick up" 150-Million dollars a year in economic activity. Oman says it'll create "something that's our Gateway Arch, or our Space Needle," that'll bring people to stop in Iowa instead of leaving us "fly-over country."

Has David Oman read the Des Moines Register lately? The moneyed mafia running Des Moines don't want it. Dubuque pulled out. Coralville is pissed off at Oman and Former Governor Filthy Ray for unreasonable demands. And all of Oman's sycophants are leaving now that the money spigot has been (temporarily) turned off by Weasel Grassley.

This thing ain't evah gonna happen. Maybe when pigs fly.

Kids and Cancer

How's Taylor Krueger doing? (history):

Wednesday, February 1, 2006 8:32 AM CST

We made it... One Year Post Transplant!

I can't believe one year has passed and what a difference one year makes!

Taylor continues to do well and enjoys going to preschool two days a week! When looking at all of the kids in her class you would never be able to tell that Taylor is any different then the rest... she just amazes us every day!

It looks like Taylor's father has gotten a job in Oklahoma and they'll be moving out of Iowa soon. Good luck with everything.

Taylor's mother points us in the direction of another child in Iowa battling cancer, Kyle, who has not been so lucky. This is from the recent history section:

Monday, January 30, 2006 10:44 PM CST

I got a call this morning from Iowa City, they had the results of Kyle's CT from last Friday, even after such a significant reduction in the tumor by his pancreas, Kyle has 3 new spots on his lungs, these grew in a matter of weeks. Mike and I have been making alot of decisions and we have decided to stop any further treatment, the best gift we can give Kyle is for him to have some time in his life to feel good, no needles, no CT's, no hospital stays, no more surgeries, chemo, radiation we owe him that, we are hoping that he has a good amount of time to feel good, this has been the hardest day, no child should ever go through this, and it is hard to accept because he looks so good and is feeling good. I did not post earlier because we needed to tell the kids, as always I am amazed at their strength and love for their brother. I know Mike and I will be able to look back and say, we did everything we could. The cancer just keeps coming back, we pray for Kyle that he has no fear, we pray for our children that they understand and get through this and we pray for ourselves to have the strength to hold it all together, and we thank god for all of you, who NEVER stopped believing!!!! Celebrate life!!!!

Terrible.

Cancer sucks.

Rainforest At Red Rock Lake?

We have a hard time believing that over a million people a year are going to visit a "rainforest" at Red Rock Lake, near Pella. Evah.

Why You Don't Want To Go To Jail In Des Moines

Via a reader, and from the Smoking Gun:

JANUARY 30--Meet Jose Luis Gomez. The Iowa man, 20, is locked up in the Polk County Jail on robbery and assault charges. Nothing special there. What sets Gomez apart from other accused felons in the Des Moines clink (and nationwide, for that matter) are the distinctive tattoos above his smoky brown eyes. Gomez, you see, likes to make a statement without saying a word

Scary.

We prefer the CILFs at the Polk County Jail.

Moonbat Alert

A couple of unhinged moonbat Democrats have letters to the editor in the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Read Brad Pouleson and Ed Flaherty's rants at the bottom of this page.

Here's one of Pouleson's lies:

What claim to morality can a group make that has supported and continues to support an unprovoked war in Iraq that has left upward of 50,000 innocent Iraqi civilians dead, most of whom were children and their parents and grandparents?

So the US Army just went around Iraq killing children and their grandparents? What a treasonous liar.

Meanwhile, at the Quad City Times, Karene Arp Nagel of Davenport is downright bonkers (We have not altered any of the letter as it was printed - Ed.):

I strongly object to Alito replacing Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court. A filibuster should be undertaken to stop it; that is clear. Further, no one better try to pull any nuclear options. If I make one point and one point only it is this—ANY American that would join and be a member of an organization like the Concerned Alumni of Princeton (and further, even write an essay for their magazine, “Prospect,” an essay entitled “In Defense of Elitism”) would NOT in any way be fit to represent me for a lifetime gig on the Supreme Court! America was founded by people escaping persecution and today is still a haven FOR ALL. Thousands of Americans have died to save the Jews in Germany and to save African-Americans in this country from slavery. But, Samuel Alito feels SOME are definitely more entitled than OTHERS, and THAT alone goes against all that this country is about!

If Senator Reid is not willing to fully lead this filibuster action, then it would indeed be time for him to step aside and let another take charge. This is one VERY pivotal point in not just this presidency, but in the history of our country. What country will we leave to our children and grandchildren? Do we want to step backwards in time? How many more losses can we afford to take lying down?

Apparently, Ms Nagel is going to have to take MORE losses lying DOWN!

Laurie Manis of Rock Island also writes the QC Times:

The Senate has a constitutional responsibility to carefully scrutinize all nominees for the Supreme Court, not rubber-stamp President Bush’s right-wing nominations. What’s at stake in the Alito nomination? Our rights. Our liberties. Our future. Our country.

Given Samuel Alito’s record, the man ought to be filibustered until January 20, 2009.

Unless, that is, this Senate wants the coup to be completed under its watch.

Or, in the infamous words of Dan Quayle: "...what a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

"He's a man of integrity." "He makes a lot of sense." And yet I heard that "he doesn't stand a chance."

Julie Quick-Alcorn of Ankeny, writing to the Des Moines Register:

At my caucus no one had a negative word to say about state Rep. Ed Fallon. "He's a man of integrity." "He makes a lot of sense." And yet I heard that "he doesn't stand a chance." He doesn't have a lot of money, but he deserves consideration. It shouldn't be about buying your vote.

Good letter.

Winning at all costs has a price: corruption, insider information, cronyism, influence peddling, legalized bribery, and so on.