A police officer who claims his chicken sandwich was slimed by two teenage employees at a McDonald’s restaurant is suing the fast food company.
Officer Josh Douglas said he was working nights two years ago and went through the McDonald’s drive-thru in Charles City. He ordered a chicken sandwich, which came with lettuce and tomato.
Not liking vegetables, Douglas said he went to remove the toppings and discovered what he described as a mucousy substance holding them together.
“Fortunately, I don’t like lettuce. Because if I did I would have at least taken one bite before I realized what was the matter,” he said.
Douglas and another officer went inside the restaurant, where they found two teenagers working. The employees said they were imitating a prank in a movie in which a state trooper orders a burger and the cook spits phlegm on it.
Both boys were fired and one of them later apologized to Douglas, records show.
Douglas and his attorney, Joel Yunek of Mason City, say they have negotiated with McDonald’s for more than a year but have been unable to reach a settlement. They filed a lawsuit on May 8 in Floyd County District Court.
Supporters of Earthpark near Pella say they're disappointed with Governor Culver's veto of a bill extending a tourism grant program -- but it's not a death blow.
Backers say they'll just have to work harder on the $155 million project, which includes a rain forest, aquarium and educational center.
Earthpark has obtained a $50 million federal grant, but it will be revoked unless developers obtain matching money by the end of 2007.
Officials say they plan to apply this summer for a Vision Iowa grant, which invests in cultural and recreational attractions, and other state grants.
That gang of con artists have 185 days (today until December 1st - not the end of the year, AP) to get the money, otherwise "Fiscal Conservative" (cough) Republican Senator Chuck Grassley's $50 million (I'm sorry, $47.1 million is left) political payoff to campaign contributor David Oman and Grassley's attempt to assfuck Iowa taxpayers for decades with this loser of a project will be null and void.
Gee, no talk of any corporate or individual donors either. I'm shocked. SHOCKED!
The law school is just across the street from a dorm cafeteria that serves a wide variety of tasty food at reasonable prices in an attractive setting. Usually when I eat there it is with colleagues. But occasionally I go alone and end up visiting over lunch with an undergraduate. Occasionally the conversation turns to the matter of binge drinking (alcohol consumption, not for sociability, but to get drunk). Most admit to it, averaging more than once a week, with a tinge of pride. "Everybody does it." Clearly, everyone doesn't do it. But enough do to rank the University of Iowa as one of the top binge drinking schools in the country. The college paper has a Thursday entertainment and drinking section called "80 Hours." Bear in mind, an entire week has only 168 hours. Why wait to start drinking until Saturday night when, with some attention to scheduling classes, the drinking can begin on Thursdays?
Recently I visited in that dorm cafeteria with what turned out to be a freshman woman. (I did not ask for, and do not know, her name.) I inquired about her attendance at local bars. I tried not to reflect my shock as she detailed for me (a) the social pressure to go to the bars, and (b) how extremely easy it is for under-age (i.e., law breaking) undergraduates to order liquor in Iowa City's bars. (There are 40 to 50 within an easy walk from campus.) She explained how they get fake ID cards, how sloppy the supervision is, how you get a 21-year-old to order for you and then slip them the money under the table. It was all so matter-of-fact for this recent high school graduate.
The fact is, nobody really cares. The bar owners are making money big time. The City Council follows former House Speaker Sam Rayburn's advice: "If you want to get along, go along." The University only gets concerned when a student dies in their own vomit, falls off a building, or drowns. Over the past 20 years we've spent millions from "Stepping Up" and other foundations and produced nothing but increased stepping up to the bar.
So the "radical proposed solution" -- that bar owners will defeat at the polls, and City Council members don't want to touch with their ten-foot poles -- is that the illegal, under-age drinkers be run out of the bars at 10 p.m. "Petition Approved for 21 Ordinance," Iowa City Press-Citizen, May 31, 2007, p. 3A.
Even if the Council, or the voters, were to adopt this proposal, and the under-21 crowd would be easily identified and run out of every bar by 10, its most likely effect would be that the under-age drinkers would simply become more efficient at their binge drinking. How? They'd drink faster.
If legal adults at 18, 19, and 20 can get married, divorced, have babies, enter into contracts, join our country's military, drive a car, fly a plane, start a business, declare bankruptcy, and go $100,000 debt on a college education, they should be able to walk into The Fox Head and have some suds.
Republicans want to put Ronald Reagan up on a big high horse about the 1980s and conservatism, but Reagan (the son of a terrible alcoholic) and nanny-stater Elizabeth Dole brought on the stupid law that tied Federal highway dollars to a state's drinking age. Say what you want about the Contras and the arms-for-hostages crap in the late 1980s that Democrats went bananas about, but I think messing with the drinking age caused many more problems in the long run.
And what's that about limited government, you Republicans?
(...crickets chirping...)
Oh, and Reagan approved amnesty for illegals in 1986. Don't you forget that.
I typically only post my private thoughts on matters related to Iowa State sports on our premium board for our Cyclone Nation subscribers. However, given the subject matter we’re going to be addressing this week, I thought it best to make it available to as many residents of Cyclone Nation as possible.
This week’s Deace Blog seeks to answer one, and only one, question. That question is simply this: who is really in charge at Iowa State University? Seriously, who is the chief of the Cyclone tribe? I know that officially Dr. Gregory Geoffroy, nice chap by the way, is listed on the roster as university president. However, I’m beginning to think that the most powerful man on the ISU campus is actually Dr. Hector Avalos.
And if you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve probably come away with that conclusion, too.
Who is Dr. Avalos? Dr. Avalos is the militant and activist atheist professor within ISU’s religious studies department. That’s right. ISU has a militant and activist atheist teaching in its religious studies department. Better yet, if you’re a taxpayer here in the state of Iowa you’re actually paying for it. Congratulations on participating in the fleecing of America.
"The path of Europe is not the way to go. Socialized medicine. Hillarycare. Obamacare. They don't get it," Romney said. "The best way to make health care work is to make health care more like a market and with the dynamics of the private market, that's the way to go."
"...I have to be honest with you here. I'm not looking to take what I did in Massachusetts...I wouldn't take that and impose that on all 50 states. My inclination would be to let states develop their own plans to get their citizens insured and we're going to find a system that works better than somewhere else," Romney said. "...Let states try their own plans...I see the federal government as allowing greater flexibility to the states instead of mandating what you have to do."
"...I think we've made a number of mistakes since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government," Romney said. "...We were underprepared for what developed...We have a number of options. One is just to get up and walk out. That's very tempting. It presents an additional risk to America and our interests -- a pretty severe risk. If we were to walk out precipitously, it's very possible the nation would devolve into massive civil wars and the neighbors would start grabbing power...because of that and the potential for a more...regional conflict and our having to go back again in a worse setting"
"...First, I strongly support legal immigration. Legal immigrants have been a source of technology, innovation, hard work and culture that have enhanced our country. My guess is that the majority of the people in this room are either legal immigrants themselves or the descendants of immigrants and we welcome immigration. America has been the golden door of opportunity from the beginning and will remain so. I do not support illegal immigration in part because I think illegal immigration threatens legal immigration. It keeps us from being able to bring in and attract some of the best and brightest from around the world and so I want to see if we can't end illegal immigration but not in any way to the detriment to legal immigration so my principles on illegal immigration are pretty straight forward. I want to secure the border.
I'm taking a break from my series on How the Iowa caucuses work to urge politically active bloggers to register and occasionally comment on at least one or two newspaper websites.
Strange as it may seem to us blog addicts, most people do not visit political blogs. There are voters who never miss an election but have not heard of Daily Kos or MyDD. They rely on traditional print or broadcast media for their political news.
As the early primaries and caucuses approach, some of these people will log on to their local newspaper's website to read up on the political news. Many newspapers allow reader comments on their websites, and I've noticed that conservatives echoing the right-wing talking points are better represented on some of the Iowa-based newspaper websites.
If you drive around your town and see only Republican bumper stickers and yard signs, it makes you feel like Democrats are a small minority. My concern is that some voters reading the news online may come to believe that the right-wing hacks represent a majority view.
Join me after the jump for some thoughts on amplifying the progressive presence on the newspaper websites.
Talk about Naive with a capital N.
What's the shelf life for comments on a newspaper's web site? A few hours at best? This seems like a real waste of time.
The Kossacks would be better off driving to Iowa and going door-to-door to meet people, but they're too lazy and lame to do anything like that.
Governor Chet Culver has used his item veto authority to pare millions from the state budget plan drafted by his fellow Democrats in the legislature.
Culver cut out a proposal to set aside $4 million in each of the next six years for the state's Community Attractions and Tourism grant program. Culver says the level of state funding for the program should be reevaluted each year.
Legislators also tried to set aside three quarters of a million for year two of the Volga River State Recreation Area project and another half million for the Levi Carter Lake project's second year. Culver says both those projects already have state financing for their first-year and second-year funding levels can be decided next year.
Culver rejected the idea of setting up a $1 million annual state appropriation for The State 29 Prize. That's the award created and financed by blogging magnate State 29 -- a sort of Nobel Prize for blogging.
Governor Culver has signed the tax amnesty bill, SF 580. The bill forgives penalties and 1/2 of the interest during the amnesty period, which runs from September 4 thorugh October 31 of this year.
The Governor's website touts this as a "one-time" amnesty. Yes, one time, just like the last one in 1986.
If you're hoping for "universal, single-payer" healthcare (as I lean toward) -- as is provided to the citizens of virtually every other industrialized nation -- this ain't it.
You know, I hope that some day the United States will have a "universal, single payer" health care system.
The "universal" should be cash money backed with a catastrophic insurance policy and the "single payer" is you.
The days where employers are paying 70% to 90% of an employee's $10,000+ health insurance plan will eventually end.
So will the idea that insurance should cover every little thing under the sun or that "co-pays" should be small amounts.
Why does a Tylenol cost $10 in a hospital? Johnson & Johnson doesn't make any more money selling that Tylenol to a hospital as it does through the local drug store.
Why, in bigger towns and cities, do major medical groups consolidate so many doctors in a brand-spanking new building complete with flat screen LCD TVs all over the place?
Have you ever gone in the back room and seen how complex the billing systems are?
Ever spent a lot of time on the phone getting some insurance billing thing fixed?
We need to be getting back to the days where a family can buy a cheap catastrophic coverage plan, but fund regular ongoing expenses out of a Health Savings Account (HSA).
Insurance was made to protect people from excessive financial liabilities, but it has been abused by individuals, health care providers, and the government.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. So you can give everybody "universal" coverage, but you can't make them go to the doctor. There's always going to be a segment of society that won't go for regular checkups, much less lead a healthier lifestyle. What is Barack Obama going to do about that?
Why the hell should "rich people" pick up the burden of stupid people? Now the poor can drink and smoke all they want, but Daddy Warbucks and the taxpayers will pick up the tab when a new liver transplant or years of chemotherapy are needed.
People should be able to go to the doctor and pay cash for the doctor's services. Shouldn't there should be a discount for people paying in cash. Wouldn't that be easier?
Oh, no. The "government" should just pick up the tab. Why bother with shopping around for health care? The centralized politburo should dictate all prices on this and that and everything. That's MUCH more efficient, isn't it?
...joined by Lt. Governor Patty Judge, legislators, activists, advocates and members of the business community, Iowa Governor Chet Culver signed into law SF 427, a bill expanding housing and employment civil rights protections to members of the LGBT community...
...Lt. Governor Judge touched on the economic impact this bill would have on the state. “Iowa faces a looming crisis,” said the Lt. Governor. “By 2012, Iowa could have up to 200,000 more jobs than workers ready to fill them. SF 457 is critical to helping us fill this worker shortage by attracting and retaining some of the best and brightest individuals from around the country. As a state, we need to welcome people from diverse backgrounds if we wish to compete in the global market.
Iowa's exotic pet owners could soon find themselves extinct thanks to a new bill signed by Gov. Chet Culver.
The bill makes it illegal for a person to privately own or possess a dangerous wild animal, and to breed or transport them into Iowa.
Exotic pet-lovers won't have to give up their pets right away because the bill doesn't apply to animals currently owned by Iowans.
However, the bill requires owners to register their dangerous wild animal. The animals must be listed with the state an electronic identification device must be attached or embedded into the animal.
The animals outlawed under the new legislation include wolves, coyotes, primates, lions, tigers, bears, leopards, cheetahs, venomous snakes, pandas, rhinoceroses, elephants and other wild species.
So let me get this straight...... (pardon the pun)
If you're a lesbian, gay, or transgendered person in Iowa with a pet elephant or venomous snakes, you can keep your wild animal as long as it's chipped and registered.
However, if you're a lesbian, gay, or transgendered person interested in moving to Iowa and you have a pet rhinoceroses or tiger, you're out of luck.
The nation's first multi-state lottery scratch-off game will make its debut this summer at the Kansas State Fair.
The $10 Midwest Millions game also will be sold in Iowa.
Under Kansas Lottery executive director Ed Van Petten, the Sunflower State in recent years has been a frequent pioneer in new lottery games, including an Internet scratcher game and the novel $20 "pocket slot" electronic game card that rolled out last year and sold out fast.
Van Petten is particularly proud of Midwest Millions.
"This is something I came up with" and successfully negotiated with Iowa Lottery executives in the last year, he said.
"What the big states have over us is the ability to do a game with higher sales volumes and higher prize structures," he said.
Partnering with Iowa and possibly other states in the future, Midwest Millions will offer instant prizes of up to $50,000, plus two second-chance drawings for $500,000 jackpots along with 50 winners of $1,000.
Seeking to add heft to his presidential bid, Democrat Barack Obama is offering a sweeping plan that would require every American to have health coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program.
Obama said putting in place universal health coverage has been debated for decades, but the time has finally come to act. He said his plan could save the average consumer $2,500 a year and bring health care to all.
"The time has come for universal, affordable health care in America," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery at the unveiling of his plan Tuesday in Iowa City.
A copy of his remarks and documents describing the program were obtained by The Associated Press.
Under Obama's proposal, every American would be required to carry health insurance, and the Illinois senator would create a National Health Insurance Exchange to monitor insurance companies in offering the coverage. In essence, Obama's plan retains the private insurance system but injects additional money into the system to pay for the expanded coverage.
Those who can't afford coverage would get a subsidy on a sliding scale depending on their income, and virtually all businesses would have to share in the cost of coverage for their workers. The plan that would be offered would be similar to the one covering members of Congress.
His package would prohibit insurance companies from refusing coverage because of pre-existing conditions...
...In addition to broadening coverage, Obama called for a series of steps to overhaul the current health care system. He would spend more money boosting technology in the health industry such as electronic record-keeping, put in place better management for chronic diseases and create a reinsurance pool for catastrophic illnesses to take the burden of their costs off of other premium payers...
...In all, Obama said, the typical consumer would save $2,500 a year.
Obama conceded that the overall cost of the program would be high, while not providing a specific number.
"To help pay for this, we will ask all but the smallest businesses who don't make a meaningful contribution to the health coverage of their workers to do so to support this plan," said Obama. "And we also will repeal the temporary Bush tax cut for the wealthiest taxpayers."
So in other words, if you have a small business with ONE employee, you'll be forced to make a "meaningful contribution" whether you can afford to or not.
And if you're an insurance company, you'll be driven out of business by being unable to refuse health coverage on somebody who lives a reckless lifestyle.
Well, there's nothing to worry about here. Obama will never be elected President. And even if he was, he'd never get this load of bullshit and fraud through Congress.
I’m beginning to get the impression there is nothing more important to the Associated Press in its Iraq reportage than the number of “American soldiers killed in this unpopular war.” That phrase, with a number, is typically trotted out no later than graph three in AP stories on Iraq. It’s as though the body count is the sole measure upon which all decisions and action must turn. There certainly has been no effort by the Associated Press, or other major news organizations on the ground in Iraq, to examine progress in anything but the most dismissive manner, with a quick revert to body count.
Of course that's the truth.
Your local newspaper pulls that shit whenever a soldier or a number of soldiers die. I think most newspaper editors are gleeful and happy when a soldier dies, then they can exploit him or her in order make their political point about the war. The Des Moines Register has been notorious for ignoring soldiers until they're dead, and that's why I don't bother linking to that fucking rag any more. They couldn't even bother to mention when Iowa soldiers received awards for valor or bravery, but they're on the scene when a soldier who has once set foot in Iowa or once lived in the state or went to school somewhere within the border dies while in uniform.
Beyond all that, they can't even bother to report what's going on over there. As if they cared. That gets in the way of their political agenda and Bush hatred, which are one in the same.
Iowans now have a governor who is willing to play politics with the flag. I remember years ago when Democrats would bitch and whine and moan about how _____________ (fill in the blank) Republican was "playing politics with the flag" by creating a stupid anti-desecration constitutional amendment or law, but now you've got Democrat Chet Culver deciding to lower the flag to half staff every time an Iowa National Guard member dies.
That's not honoring the dead. That's politicizing the dead.
You've got to wonder what Leftist dickwad Culver consulted on this issue. It was probably some thug like Howard Dean.
And here's what the Left really thinks of Memorial Day:
War Is For People With Small Penises! Photo credit: Ed Bornstein, Daily Iowan
Hillary Clinton applauded the nation’s veterans as she began her campaign visit to North Iowa.
The New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate was about 45 minutes late for her appearance at the North Iowa Area Community College Activity Center.
Her appearance was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
This is Clinton’s first visit to North Iowa.
As many Republicans as Democrats were gathered, some to praise and some just to listen.
“I like her, I just want to see if we can have a woman president,” Karen Knudtson of Mason City, a Republican said.
“I want to hear about her platform and what she thinks.”
David Swingen of Mason City said he wanted to hear about Clinton’s plans for Social Security and health care.
Although a Republican, he said he was “for the person, not the party.
Two other Republicans, Joel Hanson of Osage and his son, Mike, a captain in the Air Force, both said they came to hear about Clinton’s vote against funding for the war in Iraq.
Hitlery might as well give up in Iowa.
Not only is half her audience comprised of Republicans (who would never vote for her), but the Democrats in attendance don't seem to know anything about her platform.
Are people only showing up because she's a female candidate?
And I don't know how they do things in ChicagoArkansasWashington DC New York, but when Iowans hear an event is going to start at 1:00pm, they expect the event to start at 1:00pm, not 45 minutes late.
Ethanol is an option when you pull up to the pump. But, that's usually 10% ethanol. E-85-- which is blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gas-- is harder to find. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says that's because of "big oil."
On the Senate floor, Wednesday night, Grassley cited a Wall Street Journal story outlining the ways "big oil" has blocked the sale of E-85... from preventing the station owners from buying ethanol, to requiring separate pumps to dispense ethanol.
Grassley says one oil company CEO actually told him his stations don't sell ethanol because of 'customer confusion.' "I happen to believe that it has more to do with limiting the availability of a product they don't control-- and the sale of alternative fuels-- much more than it is customer deception," said Sen. Charles Grassley, (R) Iowa.
Chuck Grassley is a drooling old fool. First, he wants to sue OPEC, like that's going to work. Now he's blaming "big oil" for the fact that gas station owners don't want to waste their money installing E85 pumps.
But politicians, like former Governor Tom Vilsack, suggest that Iowa taxpayers should pony up $180 million in order buy a fuel that only a small minority can burn and most don't want. Only government vehicles, also financed with your tax dollars, will be burning the crap.
An Iowa City man was arrested late Thursday after he allegedly assaulted his landlords with a table leg.
Oscar Humberto Alvarado Guevara, 27, 2401 Highway 6 East, Apt. 1806, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and public intoxication after an argument with apartment management. According to police reports, Guevara argued with management at the apartment complex. He then picked up a table leg with a large screw in the end and began swinging at the manager, the report said. The manager ran away while another manager grabbed Guevara, according to police. Both managers held him to the ground until police arrived.
Police also found Guevara had a box cutter with him, the report said. Guevara told officers he was going to use it to defend himself, police said.
Guevara remains in the Johnson County Jail Friday morning on a $5,000 cash only bond.
Give the drunk Mexican a break. You never know when he might have to defend himself against a sealed box.
Bowing to President Bush, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate reluctantly approved fresh billions for the Iraq war on Thursday, minus the troop withdrawal timeline that drew his earlier veto.
The Senate vote to send the legislation to the president was 80-14. Less than two hours earlier, the House had cleared the measure, 280-142, with Republicans supplying the bulk of the support.
Five months in power on Capitol Hill, Democrats in both houses coupled their concession to the president with pledges to challenge his policies anew. “This debate will go on,” vowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, announcing plans to hold votes by fall on four separate measures seeking a change in course.
In a highly unusual maneuver, House Democratic leaders crafted a procedure that allowed their rank and file to oppose money for the war, then step aside so Republicans could advance it. There were 194 Republicans in favor, as well as 86 Democrats, three members of the leadership among them. Pelosi and 139 other Democrats voted against the measure, as did two Republicans.
Gee, what a bunch of wimps the Democrats are.
Even with the media working overtime on their behalf, the RATS couldn't de-fund the war.
I can't wait to see what the anti-war moonbats who hate the troops will do next.
The defense released a brief statement but did not speak to the press. The statement was prepared ahead of time, suggesting the defense expected a conviction.
Shawn Bentler said in the statement he is innocent.
"I believe the circumstantial evidence against me was very weak," he said.
Assistant Attorney General Scott Brown said the judge has only one choice at sentencing on June 19.
"He will get life without parole on each of the counts. The only discretion the judge has is whether the sentences run concurrently or consecutively," he said.
An ISU student has taken the art of origami to a new level.
Fumi Ikeshima, senior in art and design, recently completed a chair using only 35,000 tiny, interlocking paper triangles and some glue.
"I was never able to convince myself I could do it," Ikeshima said of her idea to construct a chair out of paper, an idea she said she had in the back of her mind for about two years.
Ikeshima told her jewelry and metal-smithing professor, Joseph Muench, assistant professor of art and design, about her idea, and he said she should apply for a FOCUS grant in order to pursue it.
FOCUS grants are available to all ISU students. Applicants have to make a proposal describing their ideas and have those ideas approved. Each grant provides the students with up to $600 of whatever supplies are needed.
Once Ikeshima's idea was approved and Muench became her faculty sponsor for the project, she went to work, buying $520 worth of green origami paper.
Then, the folding began - Ikeshima had approximately 90 friends from Japan and the United States assist her in this aspect of the project, which took her a month-and-a-half to complete.
The news surfaced today, courtesy of a rival campaign, that one of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's top campaign advisors is, well, advising her to skip Iowa...
...Clinton: "What I can tell everyone is I'm unequivocally committed to competing in Iowa. I'll be there this coming weekend. I'll be back many times. We're putting together a very large staff. In fact, we're more than doubled the size of our field staff in the past month alone and we've got 10 offices across the state. I haven't seen the memo and I was first informed of it when, apparently, the press got a copy of something which reflects the thoughts of one member of our staff who, you know, was thinking out loud, apparently. But it's not the opinion of the campaign. It's not my opinion."
Henderson: "It might be wise for you, though, to skip Iowa...where a poll this weekend showed you running in third place."
Clinton: "Well, I don't really pay any attention to poll at this early stage and there have been polls all over the place. I've been in first place and second place and third place, you know(she laughs)
We all know that laugh.
It's that witch-cackle thing that Hitlery does right before lightning emits from the tips of her fingers and the glare from her eyes causes your head to explode.
Face it, Hill, Iowans don't like you. The anti-war moonbats don't trust you. Women prefer the soft $400 haircuts of John Edwards or the good-looking empty suit of Barack Obama. All your shit is staged. And you've got a shrill voice.
And why the hell didn't you drop that dirty dog of a husband when he was shoving cigars into the vagina of a White House intern and messing around with all those other women? All you would have had to do was kick him in the balls and divorce his ass and then a lot of Americans would have said "You Go Girl!" and put your thighs back in the White House. But, no no no, you had to Stand By Your Man Like Some Tammy Wynette Song.
Fourth place awaits you, Hill. Say ¿Cómo está? to Bill Richardson on the way down.
As Iowans cope with record high gasoline prices, Congress is considering legislation today that would hold Middle Eastern oil-producing countries directly responsible for the bounding cost of fuel. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says previous investigations of individual oil companies and allegations of price-gouging and collusion went nowhere, so this new avenue of action is needed.
Grassley says, "It would bring OPEC into the courts under our anti-trust laws. Presently, a country can't have the anti-trust laws applied to them and it seems to me that when a country is acting like a business, they ought to be effected by our anti-trust laws the same way companies do in colluding." Grassley is co-sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
Grassley says: "Without a doubt, the 12 countries in OPEC do collude. They made a decision last September to cut one-million barrels of production a day. I bet that one-million barrels of production a day would cut down on the price considerably." He says the U.S. uses about 86-million barrels of petroleum per day while OPEC nations generate about 87-million barrels per day, a margin that leaves little room for error.
Grassley says, "OPEC effects this supply and they ought to be held accountable for it. If that legislation passes the House today, and I think it will, it would bring great emphasis to bringing it up in the Senate."
Oh, great. America is going to sue OPEC? What the fuck? Grassley has completely lost his mind.
Pass a stupid law like that and OPEC might as well say fuck you to America and cut production even further while the lawsuit languishes in court for a couple of decades.
Lawsuits... That's the John Edwards / Bruce Braley sort of way to handle things.
Don't fucking drill for oil in Alaska or off-shore, don't try to liquify coal to petroleum, don't try to increase mileage, don't discourage the sale of gas guzzlers, and don't try to switch automobile power over to the electrical grid and to power that grid through renewable sources. No, dear god, don't try to do that! SUE THE BASTARDS INSTEAD!!!
While Iowa State University denied tenure this spring to gifted pro-ID [Intelligent Design] astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, it turns out that it decided at the same time to promote to full professor outspoken atheist Hector Avalos, religious studies professor and faculty adviser to the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. Avalos has led the charge against Gonzalez and intelligent design on ISU's campus, helping to draft a 2005 petition denouncing intelligent design that ultimately was signed by more than 120 ISU faculty.
Apparently ISU professors who are horrified by the supposed mixing of metaphysics and scholarship on the part of ID proponents have no qualms about supporting Avalos's explicit anti-religious propaganda, including his effort to equate the Bible with Hitler's Mein Kampf (for more on Avalos's view of the Bible, see below). It is worth pointing out that ISU issued a press release a few years ago boasting about Avalos's appointment as the executive director of a group affiliated with the Council for Secular Humanism that seeks to debunk religion.
Avalos's promotion to full professor comes just in time for the publication of his new book on the Bible later this month. According to the publisher's description, Avalos argues in the book
that our world is best served by leaving the Bible as a relic of an ancient civilization instead of the "living" document most religionist scholars believe it should be. He urges his colleagues to concentrate on educating the broader society to recognize the irrelevance and even violent effects of the Bible in modern life.
Just how extreme Avalos's view of the Bible is can be seen in his previous book, Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence (2005), in which he repeatedly equates the Bible with Hitler's Mein Kampf. Indeed, in a section of the book titled "Scripture: A Zero-Tolerance Argument," Avalos actually suggests that the Bible is worse than Mein Kampf
In an effort to promote Iowa’s role in renewable energy, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation has launched a campaign called ‘Join the Ride Iowa’ . The campaign will tour the state throughout the summer and will support renewable energy resources such as wind, biomass, and biodiesel. 'Join the Ride Iowa’ will focus primarily on educating Iowans about the important role that agriculture plays in renewable energy. Launched last week at the opening of a new E85 pump at the Kum & Go in Grinnell, the campaign will also offer Iowans the opportunity to win a custom-made ‘Renewable Energy Chopper’. The Iowa Farm Bureau commissioned Orange County Choppers of ‘American Chopper’ fame to build the nation’s first motorcycle that will run on E85. Although only one lucky raffle ticket holder will win the yet to be unveiled chopper, others can rest assure that their ticket purchases will not be wasted. Proceeds from the sale of $10 raffle tickets will support the American Lung Association of Iowa’s ‘Clean Air Choice’ program.
And if nobody wants to buy a ticket for a gas-powered Hawkeye chopper, why the heck would anybody want to pony up $10 for a chance to win some stupid E-85 hooch-sipping chopper? And where in the world do you buy E-85 other than Grinnell and a handful of tiny towns around Iowa? You still can't find it in most larger Iowa cities, at least not without considerable planning.
Things are ramping up for the centennial celebration of the May 26th birth of actor John Wayne in Winterset. Part of the events included the Iowa Lottery unveiling a set of three new scratch tickets today that feature Wayne. Lottery CEO Ed Stanek says the ticket is the first to feature the man known as "The Duke."
A lottery ticket with John Wayne on it!!!
Hey, don't scratch that lottery ticket, it might be worth something some day!
Here's two of my favorite video clips about John Wayne. They're both fairly short. Watch them in order:
I was recently reading through the mottos of our 50 states. How many of you have ever done this?
Two states have exactly the same motto: “Crossroads of America” (Alabama and Indiana). Four states have one word mottos: Rhode Island (“Hope”), Texas (“Friendship”), Utah (“Industry”) and Wisconsin (“Forward”). Six of them incorporate the Almighty (Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and South Dakota).
Some other interesting and unique ones include: California (“I have found it”), Hawaii (“The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”), Idaho (“It is perpetual”), Kansas (“To the stars through difficulties”), Maine (“I direct”), Massachusetts (“By the sword we seek peace”), Michigan (“If you seek a pleasant peninsula look about you”), New Mexico (“It grows as it goes”), North Carolina (“To be rather than to seem”), Oklahoma (“Labor conquers all things”), Washington (“By and by”) and West Virginia (“Mountaineers are always free”).
The longest motto comes from right here in the middle of corn country — Iowa (“Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain”).
Our uniquely American state mottos encompass quite a variety. Checking out the whole list is a good “dull and quiet evening” project.
Rick Sundin Jr., Davenport
My favorite has always been New Hampshire's ("Live Free Or Die").
I can't believe I live in a state now where the motto is "To The Stars Through Difficulties". That sounds like something Casey Kasem would come up with during a bout of depression.
And who worked on New Mexico's motto "It Grows As It Goes"? Was it John Holmes? Or Bill Clinton?
From the Cedar Rapids Gazette, which seems to once again be giving the general public access to stories on their web site:
A majority of [Iowa City] City Council members would support a 1 percent sales tax to boost city coffers, a topic sure to cause heated debate in the community.
The council will talk about the tax, known as a local-option sales tax, or LOST, at an upcoming work session, possibly June 4.
The meeting would serve as a preliminary dialogue, and it's unknown what will happen from there. Voters would have to approve the tax, and an election is still far from becoming a reality.
But with state funding declining in recent years, council members told The Gazette they would support the tax if the money went toward certain projects, especially hiring more police and fire personnel and offering property tax relief.
"I think we really have to have this discussion," council member Dee Vanderhoef said. "I do not see any new revenues being offered to the cities by the state Legislature."
So what would that make the sales tax in Iowa City if this got approved? About 14%? I bet there are some Socialists in that town who would love to see it even higher.
Iowa City taxpayers have lots of essential things to support, like dog parks.
We Iowa City socialists don't luuuuv sales taxes, the regressivity argument comes into play (a "tax the rich" chant actually went up at a local convention once). The person pushing this hardest is Dee Vanderhoef, the lone registered Republican on the council. (Also, Dean Thornberry, who dropped the big bucks for the dog park, is solidly aligned with the conservative side in local politics. But he loves doggies.)
Foot insert into mouth, State 29. Shows you how much I know about Iowa City politics.
I thought everybody in Iowa City was either a Democrat or a Socialist. Wow, there's actually Republicans there?
Must be endangered leftovers from that Rockefeller wing. Tax the poor!
Another reader pointed out that the sales tax in Iowa City is currently 5%. It's going up to 6% soon because of a local option tax that passed earlier this year that goes mostly towards the schools.
Hundreds of Iowans want to help plug the state's "brain drain."
More than 250 Iowans have applied to be on the Generation Iowa Commission, created this year by the Iowa Legislature to help keep young Iowans in the state.
"The interest in this particular commission shows Iowa's future is incredibly bright, and young Iowans are optimistic and willing to serve their state," Gov. Chet Culver said in a statement.
Culver will sort through the applications, which come from 48 counties, and appoint 15 people to serve on the commission along with four lawmakers.
Rep. Elesha Gayman, D-Davenport, came up with the idea for the commission after watching her friends move out of Iowa after college.
Like the indentured servitude bill that went around the Iowa Legislature this past session, this is also a bad idea. But then the Iowa Legislature, regardless of party affiliation, has always been full of stupid gimmicks.
Iowa colleges and universities ought to direct more students into good-paying regional professions that need staffing yesterday.
And perhaps if lawmakers would be willing to listen to real people rather than lobbyists who are lining their pockets with dollars or the hand-picked politically-connected kids, this wouldn't be an issue. Instead, these young'ns will likely come up with all sorts of goofy reasons to raise taxes, increase government bureaucracy, build bogus tourist attractions, and add to the problem. And it's not like some of these people were going to stay.
I also don't think a protectionist attitude towards the "brain drain" is going to work.
The campaigns of the top GOP candidates -- Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani -- couldn't point to any key advisers who are black, although there are some women in the top tier.
Michelle Malkin had a followup post that showed a group picture of the Board Of Directors of the Associated Press:
The AP has two white broads and the rest are a bunch of old white male crackas. Talk about competition for Keebler, Hellman's, and Wonder Bread!
WASHINGTON (AP) -- White, rural and homogeneous. New Hampshire and Iowa play big roles in choosing presidential candidates but don't look much like the rest of the country.
A better bellwether might be Illinois. It's the most average state, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Census Bureau...
...The AP ranked each state on how closely it matched national levels on 21 demographic factors, including race, age, income, education, industrial mix, immigration and the share of people living in urban and rural areas. The rankings were then combined to determine the state that best mirrors the country as a whole.
And how much press do you think AP would have given to a story if some white guy in Iowa City had the cops called on him because he was out drunk at midnight yelling how he wanted to "kill all the niggers"? It would be splashed across the nation and around the world.
Long before his job as a game show host, Barker was in Iowa.
"I was a naval aviation cadet stationed at Iowa State University in Ames," he said.
In the middle of World War II in 1943, Barker learned to fly in Ames.
"My first instructor's name was Shivers, and the way I flew gave him plenty to shiver about, too," he said. "I loved it. I had a great time. We used to go into Des Moines on liberty."
He recalled a Des Moines landmark.
"The first Manhattan I ever drank was in Babe's Bar. I remember that," he said.
President Bush and a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators announced Thursday they've come up with a compromise package of immigration reforms, but Congressman Steve King says it's an outrage.
"They're making everybody that's in the country illegal legal. they're doing it with one stroke, potentially, of the president's pen -- which I believe he'll sign," King says. "The rest of the stuff is bells and whistles."
King also objects to the provision which he says will "race through" the backlog of reunification requests on the part of people who're living here now and have filed the paperwork to bring their family to the U.S.
"This is a broad stroke, massive amnesty and it's going to bring in more people than they tried to legalize last year with the Senate bill," King says. The U.S. Senate passed an immigration-related measure last year which stalled in the House.
King says the senators who crafted this latest attempt at immigration reform need to wear a scarlet "A" on their chests, because it'll provide amnesty for people who King contends should be sent back to their home country because they entered the U.S. illegally. "We'll do everything we can to stop it," King says.
Steve King would be better off amassing a war chest to challenge FAKE REPUBLICAN Chuck Grassley in 2010 for his Senate seat. Grassley says he's not going to vote for amnesty again (he did in 1986), but Grassley is too big of a Washington insider weasel to be believed or trusted.
The Iowa Economic Development Board rejected a proposal Thursday that would have reduced the tax credits available to ethanol plants.
The proposal would have cut the maximum credits per project from $10 million to $5 million. It was written in response to concerns from the Legislature and governor's office that the rapid growth of tax credits could harm the state's finances.
But board members said there isn't enough evidence to warrant a change.
Before the vote, the board heard pleas from the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and the Iowa Corn Growers Association to leave the tax credits as is.
Monte Shaw, executive director of the renewable fuels group, said the ethanol industry is entering an uncertain period because of high corn prices and the arrival of many new ethanol plants. Amid this uncertainly, he hopes state support for the industry will not diminish.
"We think this would be an inopportune time for Iowa to pull back," he said.
Rep. Clarence Hoffman, R-Denison, a nonvoting member of the board, also recommended that the tax credits stay the same. He said the credits should be viewed as an investment.
My opinion about the matter is that if you can't manage your public affairs worth a crap and have what amounts to a blank checkbook pre-loaded by the taxpayers in front of you, then you need a PR firm to spin things on your behalf.
Naturally, not every Regent knew about it:
One regent, Robert Downer of Iowa City, said he hadn’t been informed of the plan. He is concerned about how much it would cost and didn’t want it to “wall off” regents or staff from the public.
On Tuesday Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards walked into a packed meeting room at the downtown Des Moines Public Library for an event designed to connect with women voters. The Edwards camp released a list of over 1500 Iowa women -- (at least one women in 800 Iowa voting precincts) -- who have signed on as backers of Edwards' bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
The event started with Des Moines attorney Roxanne Conlin (the Iowa Democratic Party's 1982 nominee for governor -- she lost to Republican Terry Branstad) giving her testimonial about Edwards. "I met Senator Edwards more than 20 years ago. We used to do the same thing for a living. He does something different now. I still do the same thing," Conlin said, referring to her law practice. "Both of us represent people who are hurt. We speak for people who have no voice.
Let's see, who has Roxanne Conlin represented lately?
Oh yes, it was the people from the State of Iowa who bought computer software back in the mid 1990s from Microsoft. Even though most of us likely paid $2000 to $3000 for our computers, big evil Microsoft overcharged us on the software side somewhere in the neighborhood of about $40.
In May of 1995, Ayers informed Lynch she was pregnant. Lynch stated that had she not become pregnant, he would have given her a higher management position. After her pregnancy had advanced, Lynch commented at a staff meeting that Ayers’ “boobs” were getting “huge.” Events culminated on October 13, 1995, at Eighth Street. At the time, Ayers was seven months pregnant. Lynch began rubbing her abdomen but in doing so, bumped her breasts accidentally. However, he left his hand on Ayers’ breasts and again remarked about their increasing size. Other employees witnessed the behavior and informed Corey Becker, Eighth Street’s general manager. Becker told Ayers to return to work. Later that same day, Lynch trapped Ayers near the service area, physically restrained her and rubbed his groin against her while asking if she was going to name her baby “Little Jimmy.”
That sort of victory is definitely justified. What a caveman.
Anti-war Democrats in the Senate failed in an attempt to cut off funds for the Iraq war on Wednesday, a lopsided bipartisan vote that masked growing impatience within both political parties over President Bush's handling of the four-year conflict.
The 67-29 vote against the measure left it far short of the 60 needed to advance. More than half the Senate's Democrats supported the move...
...Ironically, the vote also cleared the way for the Democratic-controlled Congress to bow to Bush's wishes and approve a war funding bill next week stripped of the type of restrictions that drew his veto earlier this spring. Democrats vowed in January to force an end to the war, and nowhere is the shift in sentiment more evident than among the party's presidential contenders in the Senate.
It's a long road in the Senate from 29 votes to 60.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., said today he’s against unrestricted amnesty for illegal aliens and will vote against any immigration bill that includes it.
“I voted for amnesty 20 years ago and I won’t do it again,” he said in a conference call to Iowa political reporters from his Washington office.
“Amnesty rewards illegality - and all you get is more of it,” he said.
Grassley said as talks continue on a proposed immigration bill, House and Senate leaders are leaning toward legislation that would provide amnesty only if certain requirements were met.
“I would have to take a careful look at that before I could support it,” he said.
That plan would have immigration "triggers" including requiring certain border security and work-site enforcement measures.
The so-called “Z visa” plan would start with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States going on a probationary legal status. If the triggers are met — a process that some say could take 18 months — then illegal immigrants who qualify could get Z visas.
Convicted felons would not be eligible. All participants would have to pass security checks, pay a fine and pass an English proficiency test.
Z visa holders would be able to apply for legal permanent resident status, a step toward citizenship. But heads of households with Z visas would have to return to their home country and then re-enter the United States. They would have to take their Z visa to the U.S. Embassy and would be guaranteed re-entry.
Somehow I just don't believe Chuck Grassley is not going to vote for some sort of amnesty for illegal aliens this year.
If Steve King had any balls, he'd challenge Grassley in 2010.
Chuck Grassley is worthless and weak. He's one of my top poster boys for term limits. The guy has had 2o years to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax from creeping into the lives of the middle class, but he's done nothing but stand around with his dick in his hand. That, plus his ongoing support of the Rainforest Scam makes me wonder what Republicans in Iowa are smoking when they keep voting for this fauxscal conservative.
One year after Whirlpool’s announcement that it would shut down Maytag’s headquarters and production here, Newton remains, by most measuring sticks, a vibrant community.
According to the Newton Board of REALTORS, Newton homes now are selling quicker than they were before the announcement last May — averaging 173 days on the market in March 2006 compared to only 127 days on the market in March 2007. Prices are up, too, averaging about $117,000 through March this year compared to about $96,500 in the same period a year ago.
State and federal government continue kicking in money to help retrain laid off Maytagers. On Wednesday Rep. Leonard Boswell and Sen. Tom Harkin announced another $263,000 in federal grant money.
Iowa Telecom agreed to purchase Maytag’s former corporate headquarters building and will add 140 jobs in Newton. That deal brought another Iowa company, Caleris to town. Caleris plans to add 100 jobs here this year and 300 by 2009. Central Iowa Energy cut the ribbon for Jasper County’s new biodiesel plant this week.
Success stories filter back of former Maytagers pursuing new options and opening new businesses like Patti Peery’s Fireside Camper Rental or John Craun’s Royale Canoe and Kayak.
All the positive news gives the community hope for the future and city and community leaders something to tout.
“I think going forward Newton is going to thrive because we’ve taken it upon ourselves to diversify. It’s not just a one company town,” Newton Mayor Chaz Aleen said. “As we go through the process over the next couple of years, we’ll come out on the other side better.”
Sitting in his Office, U.A.W. Local 997 President Ted Johnson worries that all the positive news stories are looking past a painful reality: That Newton hasn’t yet hit bottom in dealing with the loss of the town’s largest employer for more than 100 years. And not to bring down the positive feelings, but, he hopes the community leaders will be ready for potential problems down the road when the loss of Maytag has had a chance to sink into the community.
“I know their job as leaders is to try to give hope and vision and stuff, but there’s some stark realities that have to be faced,” he said. “One of them is going to be people who need medical assistance for free or for low cost. There might even be, I suspect, a need for transitional housing. People are going to lose their homes.”
Transitional housing?
WTF is that union thug talking about? Tents? Government-owned mobile homes? Cardboard boxes?
It gets worse:
Newton’s proximity to Des Moines helps, of course, but Johnson wonders whether people will be willing, or able, to live in Newton and commute to Des Moines for years, especially with the escalating price of gas.
“They can only do it for so long. If you get a job in Des Moines that’s even a decent wage, if you’re spending $3-a-gallon for gas, you know, that’s gonna cut into you. If you’ve got to pay child care and things like that, sooner or later, you’re going to move (to Des Moines) if you can sell your house,” he said.
Newton's only a 35 mile drive from downtown Des Moines. Is it really that much worse than if gas was $1.99 a gallon?
A Nebraska motorcycle maker has filed a lawsuit over a University of Iowa raffle that didn't raise enough money to cover the cost of the chopper that was raffled off.
David and Julie Prochello, owners of Pooch's Custom and Theme Cycles of Dakota City, Neb., filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court accusing the Iowa Board of Regents and the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau of breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation.
The parties agreed to split the proceeds from the raffle, but the $31,963 sold in raffle tickets didn't cover the cost to make the motorcycle, said Kelly Hoffschneider, the Prochellos' attorney.
The company claims in the lawsuit that the university failed to create ``an appropriate display'' to promote the raffle or use the motorcycle during sporting events.
"The real crux of the complaint is the university's failure to use its reasonable efforts to market and promote the motorcycle," Hoffschneider said.
Raffle tickets were sold from July 1, 2006 to Feb. 21.
The raffle rules indicate that the visitors bureau could have extended the raffle or refunded tickets if proceeds did not reach $45,000. The university and visitors bureau did not cancel the raffle despite not reaching their goal and drew a winner.
Raffles are supposed to make money, not lose money!
That chopper is pretty ugly, and I can see why it wouldn't get many ticket buyers. It's not like many 60 year old women are going to be interested. Plus, it was built in Nebraska! (boo hissss!!!!fuck the cornhuskers!) Maybe they should have raffled off a Toyota Prius with some Hawkeye stickers on the bumper.
I couldn't find that scene in Pulp Fiction where Bruce Willis tells his French girlfriend "It's a chopper, baby" but I'm sure this will suffice for your afternoon's entertainment:
Plans for a Dillinger Days event in Mason City will probably not be curtailed, despite a question about the legality of using the Dillinger name.
Indiana resident Jeffery Scalf, a relative of John Dillinger, claims to have rights to control use of Dillinger’s name, and he has tried to stop events related to the infamous bank robber across the country.
Scalf contacted the Mason City Downtown Association office last week, informing the group it would need his permission to use the name, Executive Director Mary Hamiel said Sunday.
“There’s so many people that’ve been so supportive, I’d hate not to go through with it,” Hamiel said. “The other thing we could do is change the name of it.”
The committee is still in the initial stages of planning the proposed event, Hamiel said. “We’re still working on it.”
John Duggan, a member of the River City Society for Historic Preservation who was consulted to help with a re-enactment of the bank robbery for Dillinger Days, said the group will need to determine if Scalf has a legal claim to the use of the Dillinger name.
“I don’t know what kind of a lock you can have on history,” he said. “Because it is history.”
But if it appears they could face a legal hassle, Duggan said he personally wouldn’t have a problem changing the name.
“I sure wouldn’t be for stopping the thing,” he said. “It’s part of our history.”
I mean, Chicago doesn't have a John Wayne Gacy museum. Milwaukee doesn't honor Jeffrey Dahmer. And I'm certain Bonaparte, Iowa, won't be honoring Shawn Bentler in the future.
As far as controlling the naming rights of John Dillinger, well if you don't have legal control of Dillinger's penis, much less his arm, then you don't have dick.
Iowa is going to back to court over the TouchPlay lottery machines.
The attorney general's office has filed a counterclaim, contending some businesses owe the state about a million dollars.
The Legislature pulled the plug on nearly 7,000 machines last year.
In a counterclaim filed in Polk County District Court, lawyers for the attorney general's office say eleven TouchPlay businesses kept cash that was supposed to be turned over the state.
AG spokesman Bob Brammer says when the end of TouchPlay was near, the businesses didn't make the payments they agreed to. Now, the state wants those businesses to pay up.
Sen. Chuck Grassley says the top tax rate would have to jump to 46 percent from 35 percent to offset costs of a House Democratic plan to "fix" the AMT. In a floor statement, he said the result would be a “shocking” tax increase for the wealthy.
Let me also add that rumors are circulating that the House plan would take the capital gains tax to 31 percent from 15 percent. Yes, these penalty rates would hurt the most successful earners and investors.
But there’s a bigger point here: This would significantly reduce the amount of capital supplied to the economy for all manner of growth and job creation.
Chuck Grassley has had 20 years to get the AMT problem fixed and he's done nothing. What a fauxscal conservative Chuck Grassley has been. Why does Iowa keep re-electing this idiot?
KILL THE AMT and then cut spending. But oh no, Chuck Grassley can't do that. He has too many scams to dole out money for, like the rainforest.
I still think we should repeal the 17th Amendment and impose a term limit for senators of just six years.
Famed rocker Joe Walsh brings his extraordinary talent to the Iowa State Fair Grandstand Friday, August 17, filling the last opening in this year's line-up. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $28 and go on sale Saturday, May 19.
Joe Walsh? How old is he? Almost 60. He hasn't had a hit in about 30 years. Is that the best the Iowa State Fair could do on a Friday night? Well, at least he's sober:
Six people were arrested overnight in a melee in which two police officers were injured.
Iowa City Police were called to a report of a man yelling that he “wanted to kill all white people” at 12:07 a.m. Monday at 921 N. Dodge St. Sgt. Troy Kelsay said the man was identified as James Michael Willis, 27, 921 N. Dodge St.
The situation escalated as officers began to arrest Willis, Kelsay said. One man, Demetrius James Bledsoe, 26, 921 N. Dodge St., while being arrested for interference with a police officer, pushed officer Laura Wood to the ground, causing her pain in her back, the police report said. She was transported to an unspecified hospital by ambulance, the report said, and Bledsoe was charged with assault on a police officer, interference with official acts, public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Another officer, Matt Hansen, was punched in the face several times by Willis during the arrest, Kelsay said. Hansen was treated at the scene for minor injuries. Several other officers — several of whom had been called from the Coralville Police, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and the University of Iowa Police, also sustained minor injuries in the fracas...
...In the end, James Michael Willis was arrested for interference with official acts, assault on a police officer, public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Also arrested was Antonio Maurice House, 27, 913 Willow St., for interference with official acts and assault on a peace officer after he allegedly tried to pull officers away from Bledsoe as they arrested him.
Another occupant of the house, Kemberly Rachel Willis, 24, was arrested for interference and escape from custody after she allegedly ran off in handcuffs during the melee. She was located some 15 minutes later, about five houses down the street, the police report said.
Two others, Adam M. Melcher, 31, and Lakisha D. Thomas, 24, of Coralville also were arrested for interference with official acts.
If a bicycle, a bus and a car raced, people might not think the bicyclist would be the safe bet.
In the Iowa City-Coralville area with the road construction and congestion, odds may be a little different.
"This is to show that time-wise, the bike and the car, their times are virtually the same," Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, said of a bike/bus/car race.
State Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, on his bike, Johnson County Supervisor Sally Stutsman in her car, and Iowa City City Councilor Amy Correia in a bus raced from Coral Ridge Mall to the Old Capitol Town Center on Monday during 5 p.m. traffic.
This event is part of Bike to Work Week, which began Monday and runs through Friday. Organizers, such as Wyatt, say it encourages people to park their cars and enjoy the benefits of bicycle commuting, such as physical, monetary and environmental.
"I ride my bike because it makes me happy. I haven't met too many commuters stuck in gridlock that can say that," Wyatt said.
While last year, the bicyclist finished first, this year Stutsman won, barely.
"It sends a good message that people can bike to work," Stutsman said. "It is ironic that (Bike to Work Week) is happening at the same time gas prices are rising. People are saying, 'What can we do about it?' This is something."
On Monday, the soaring gas prices ranged from $3.30 a gallon for the ethanol grade to $3.50 a gallon for premium.
This mostly proves that traffic engineering in Coralville, where most of the race takes place, is for shit.
I bet the bike and the car spent a lot of time waiting at the same stop lights.
And how much crap was spewed into the atmosphere by that diesel bus? I bet Bolkcom was thankful he didn't have to wait behind one of those smelly oil burners.
The Mason City Municipal Airport is getting a one-million dollar federal grant to build a seven-and-a-half mile fence around the airport's perimeter. Airport manager Pam Osgood says the grant will also be used to install some new security gates inside the airport's property.
"Trying to ensure that the airport is safe and secured at the same time," Osgood says. At the end of this month, the airport will conclude its year-long study of wildlife hazards on airport property. "To date, the results have demonstrated there is a need to install an eight-foot, three-strand, barbed wire fence around the perimeter to keep the wildlife activity off the airport," Osgood says.
The main concern is keeping deer off the airstrips. "There have also been sightings of coyotes and different things out on the airfield and we want to make sure that we deter that from occurring because safety is a major issue," Osgood says.
Yeah, you wouldn't need an 8 foot, three-strand, barbed wire fence for coyotes.
On the other hand, you could just bring deer population levels in Iowa down to 1980-era levels (around 50,000, as opposed to 500,000+ today) with hunting and this problem would have likely gone away. But oh no, the Iowa Deer-N-R won't allow that.
From the Des Moines Business Record, this is excerpted from a commencement address Townsend, the guy who dreamed up Earthpork but wants taxpayers to pay for, delivered at Central College in Pella:
Our children will live in a world unrecognizable to our parents, and our first responsibility is to guarantee that they learn how to survive and prosper in their own time. The insights we instill today will determine the lives they lead tomorrow, and we are now positioned to create a lifestyle worthy of their amazing potential. Building on our heritage, values and strengths, Iowa can demonstrate how to live in peaceful harmony amid the challenging realities of the 21st century. Indeed, Iowa can lead the way.
Most issues are well known: environmental degradation, the impact of technology and globalization, population growth (or lack of it), fitness and health, workforce development, unrealistic entitlements, national debt. Others are less obvious, yet potentially just as troubling. Among these are the insulation from nature and isolation from each other brought about through the shifting mores and methods of so-called modern society.
In his book "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from the Nature-Deficit Disorder," Richard Louv details the growing risks of detachment from our fellow man and the land that delivered us. He describes an insidious widening of multiple barriers between Americans, particularly children, and the natural world. In one generation, our cities, schools, neighborhoods, laws and leisure have disengaged from what always had been an intimate linkage with the real outdoors. He calls it a "nature deficit disorder", and a majority of our nation's population suffers from it. Moreover, the transition toward a technology-based bio-economy exacerbates this problem, yet is no fad. It is widely heralded, science-based, irreversible, and, perhaps surprisingly, consistent with human nature; yet still the losing touch accelerates. How can we incorporate useful technology and stay connected at the same time?
Fortunately, Iowans are still among America's leaders in remembering and honoring the land. We have terrific trails, parks and programs, plus an agrarian ethos steeped in local culture and traditions. These are invaluable resources that now provide a unique moment of opportunity to affect nearly all these issues while building a state still in tune with ancient human needs. If we act in concert now, Iowa could become known as the place to live, work and play in touch with the real, natural world, the only way we used to live before computers came to rule. So, I recommend we adopt the movement Louv calls "no child left indoors".
Imagine a group of independent educational attractions working together to coordinate complementary missions, messaging, marketing and fund raising. Imagine them all collaborating with professional educators to deliver their particular focused experiences within the broader message of life. Together they could tell the stories of ecology, conservation, restoration, sustainability, bioethics, cognition, nutrition, science, energy and growth. Imagine neighborhoods, towns, cities, schools, farms and businesses, all eventually de-signed and developed by adults nurtured within this overarching theme. Now imagine the impact such a reality and reputation would have on families living here, visitors coming here, businesses and workers relocating here. We would distinguish ourselves in a fashion worthy of wide emulation, admiration and respect.
This is not a withdrawal from technology. On the contrary, it is an appeal to use the best of technology to restore our rapidly deteriorating relationship with that which sustains us. As Ray Anderson, chairman of Interface Inc. and author of "Mid-Course Correction," says, "The economy is the wholly owned subsidiary of the environment." Most have lost this undeniable truth. Let Iowans be the people who find it, restore it, reveal it and rejoice in it.
Here in Central Iowa, we are blessed with several projects, old and new, already focused around various aspects of nature. Several are now discussing how to advance, while planning significant capital campaigns. A great next step would build on the model of The Audubon Institute of Louisiana. Let's bring together the leaders of seven not-for-profit educational attractions around Central Iowa, roughly along and more fully utilizing the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers: the Science Center of Iowa, the Des Moines Botanical Center, Blank Park Zoo, Living History Farms, Great Ape Trust of Iowa, Earthpark at Lake Red Rock and the federally funded Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City. If these institutions, each successful in its own right, voluntarily agreed to jointly design their next phases of growth and expansion within the broad environmental, educational framework presented here, the results would enthuse and inspire people near and far. It would declare to the world Iowa's commitment to build a state where children learn to use technology rather than let it use them. It would attract quality citizens of every kind, color and mind to make their lives work in Iowa, simultaneously lifting tourism to proud, value based, lucrative new heights.
Humanity is at a crossroads. Iowa has a chance to help our children save their world. Let's build a state together in tune with nature, led by science, driven by universal truths. This focused approach will let people learn by living a more natural life in preparation for their time in a new, unnatural world.
What could be better? Why not here? Why not now?
Townsend ruins a commencement address for college graduates with what basically amounts to a sales pitch to take more of their tax dollars to fund a scam run by a con artist that is nothing more than a money-burning fraud thanks to political backslapping.
Last weekend Deb and Jerry VonSprecken of Olin received a call from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign office asking them if they would be interested in holding a campaign rally on May 4, after she had donated to his campaign.
“We thought it would be an honor and agreed,” said Jerry.
The campaign office continued to contact the VonSpreckens throughout last weekend and were told a security check would be needed. The couple passed the security check and began putting plans in place.
“We started making phone calls. We got the sheriff and fire department and Olin school was going to let out early. We were also expecting kids from the Anamosa school,” Jerry explained. “Deb even went around and personally invited people.”
On Tuesday Deb received a call from Giuliani’s Des Monies office and was asked to call New York.
“They wanted to know our assets,” she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle.
Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location.
“Tony said, ‘I’m sorry, you aren’t worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now.’ then he said they weren’t going to be able to come,” Deb continued.
The Death Tax is a federal version of the Iowa Inheritance Tax.
The VonSpreckens then called Delgado back and told him how upset they were that the event had been cancelled, how much work they had done and that they had been expecting 75-100 people at their farm.
“I invited him into my home,” Deb said of Giuliani, fighting back tears.
She said she then got a call from New York later the same day asking her to introduce Giuliani at a rally in Cedar Rapids, also scheduled for May 4. They offered her one-on-one time with Giuliani and to have her photo taken with him.
“My feeling is that they’re trying to cover their butts,” said Jerry.
“I may go and give him a piece of my mind, but I’m not going to introduce him,” Deb included.
Preparations had already been put in place for traffic control and bleachers and Deb’s mother, sister and niece were planning to fly from Texas to meet Giuliani.
“Now they pull this,” Jerry exclaimed. “It’s really sad that we aren’t good enough because we aren’t millionaires.”
“This is a horrible retraction we’re having to make. I’m in a state of shock, very hurt and embarrassed. I don’t understand why they don't want to talk to normal people,” she concluded.
Tonight, the Giuliani campaign issued a news release naming the previously scorned Mrs. VonSprecken as his Jones County Chair.
New York City - The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee announced today that Deborah VonSprecken from Olin, Iowa will serve as the Jones County Chair. As part of Mayor Giuliani’s Iowa leadership team Mrs. VonSprecken will spearhead the campaign’s organizational efforts in the county. The announcement followed a visit from Rudy Giuliani to the VonSprecken’s family farm in Olin where Mayor Giuliani apologized for the misunderstanding surrounding his last visit to the state. After spending nearly two hours visiting with Mr. and Mrs. VonSprecken, Deborah expressed her interest in supporting Mayor Giuliani and leading his efforts in Jones County.
“I am honored to have Deborah as part of my team in Iowa. As the hard-working owner of a family farm she understands the importance of cutting taxes and implementing fiscal discipline to grow the economy and increase opportunity,” said Mayor Rudy Giuliani. “Her support is tremendous and will be of great value to our efforts in Iowa.”
That's a real piss-poor PR start.
Not surprisingly, Giuliani's campaign in Iowa is basically run by the same people who brought you Jim Ross Nussle.
GED recipient and former $368,000-a-year CIETC head Ramona Cunningham with Senator Tom Harkin at the dedication of the "Tom Harkin Learning Center" at CIETC offices in October 20, 2004.
Iowa must foot the bill for over a million dollars in federal money to a troubled Des Moines-based job training agency.
That's according to the federal government, which says the money was misspent.
The US Department of Labor says the money was entrusted to the state for programs run by the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium and it's Iowa's responsibility to pay it back.
State auditors disclosed a year ago that CIETC officials used some of the money to pay six-figure salaries and bonuses to top executives, who have since been indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges.
It's unclear if federal officials want the money repaid immediately.
I'm not saying that members of the Democratic machine in Polk County involved with the CIETC scandal should be living in fear of having their livers paraded through town on sticks by an angry mob, but I'd understand if that was happening.
On Sunday, Democratic presidential candidate/Illinois Senator Barack Obama said something about Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, without naming Grassley, as Obama called on Iowans to lobby Republican members of the US House and Senate to override the president's veto on an Iraq spending plan that includes troop withdrawal timelines.
On Wednesday, Grassley said it wasn't "senatorial" for Obama to come onto his Iowa turf and make such a statement.
On Thursday night, Obama said it again.
On Friday afternoon, Grassley's press secretary issued a statement:
Following is a comment from me, Beth Levine, press secretary for Senator Grassley, in response to comments made by Senator Obama at his town hall meeting in Indianola.
“Sen. Obama’s comments yesterday renew the questions about his readiness. Overriding President Bush’s veto of a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq would have to take place first in the House of Representatives because that's the chamber of Congress from which the legislation originated. It's been demonstrated that the votes aren’t there to override that veto, despite the fact that the House is controlled by Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Party. So, there isn’t an opportunity for a veto override in the Senate in this case and, as a result, there’s no way that Sen. Grassley holds a key vote. Sen. Obama might want to sign up for American Government 101 to learn about the veto process. Or, he could learn the job he has in the U.S. Senate before thinking he ought to be President.”
I don't really care for Barack Obama as a possible Presidential candidate. He needs a good 8 to 12 years of additional seasoning before a lot of Democratic voters would consider him as less an opportunistic empty suit rather than an experienced statesman.......
Now, instead of nationwide black figures looking like some media-endorsed Stepin Fetchit character, they're actually playas. They're playing the political game and moving within the White Man's world with more ease.
And even though I hate almost all politicians, I'd rather see a couple of Obama-like characters running around with power and attention than these scumbag Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton types.
The two men who attacked an area newspaper editor last fall are going to prison.
Centerville residents Wade Adams, 27, and Jeffery Horn, 26, were each sentenced to five years in prison Friday after they pleaded guilty to willful injury, a class D felony, earlier this year.
The two were convicted of punching, kicking and stomping on Centerville Daily Iowegian Managing Editor Dan Ehl outside a Centerville bar on Sept. 1, 2006. Ehl suffered a broken leg and injuries to his face.
“I’m glad justice has been done,” he said, “because I don’t think anyone should be ambushed and beaten no matter what their profession is. I know it got more attention because I’m a journalist, but I don’t think that should happen to anyone.”
Ehl claimed the attack was retaliation for a routine article he wrote after a city council meeting. During the meeting, one of the subjects the council discussed was Adams’ liquor license.
“I didn’t know what to expect, because it could have been five years probation or a combination of both [probation and jail time],” he said. “Some people were surprised that they [got] the full five.”
Ehl has been meeting with two British visitors at the bar that night. One of them took photos immediately after the incident, and they were entered into evidence, as were witness accounts of the attack.
“There were two of them and they were bigger than me; it was obvious it wasn’t just a common bar room brawl. [Adams] admitted to the police I hadn’t hit back,” Ehl said.
Of course, he added, that couldn’t really have happened anyway since he was quickly beaten unconscious.
He did not attend Friday’s sentencing.
These days, friends are being protective of Ehl, especially now with the sentencing over. But he said he doesn’t let them keep him from conducting his day-to-day activities.
“Some people have worried about retribution,” he said, “but you can’t let that rule your life.”
From what I read at the time, Ehl had a rather basic mention of the matter at-hand (the police not wanting the bar's liquor license renewed) because it was in the local city council's meeting. It wasn't like Ehl was advocating one way or the other.
Anyway, good for the Iowa justice system working in this instance. Lately they've been rather soft on crime.
I'm glad these thugs are going away for 5 years and now have a felony on their record. Somebody beating up a newspaper editor for routine reporting of public data is crazy. They deserve to be sent to a pound-me-in-the-ass prison.
Isn't it great that Ehl can live in a country where he can be mean and hateful and downright full of shit about Republicans, Christians, and the people currently running the Federal Government? The worst thing he faces is criticism. Boo hoo.
I know Ehl's a big Democrat dove, but if I were him I'd consider getting a conceal-carry permit. It's not like Ehl needs to have a gun in order to get the permit in Iowa. Might as well keep the thugs guessing on whether the old hippie is packing heat.
A new study is raising questions about the effectiveness of small, metal crates for pregnant pigs that animal welfare groups say are cruel and inhumane.
Researchers from Iowa State University found that allowing pregnant pigs to move freely in group housing structures called hoop barns could be less costly and just as productive as the narrow, individual crates.
"What we found was that there appears to be no real difference in pig performance between the two," said Peter Lammers, an ISU graduate research assistant who conducted data analysis for the 2 1/2-year study.
There has been a backlash against placing pregnant sows in the gestation crates. Some food processors and fast food chains have pledged not to purchase meat from producers who use them, and some chefs said they would only use crate-free pork. The European Union has decided to phase out the crates by 2013, while voters in Florida and Arizona have approved ballot initiatives to ban them over the next few years.
"Highly intelligent animals, curious animals are crammed in a 2-foot-by-7-foot cage that doesn't even allow them to turn around," said Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.
He said the sows remain in the cages for most of their four-month pregnancies, amounting to about three years by the time they're eventually slaughtered.
To Family Video in Charles City, which reached agreement with the city that will allow it to purchase, remodel and move into the former Theisen’s Home-Farm-Auto building. The agreement involves $150,000 in Tax Increment Financing funds from the city — $50,000 once the building is rehabilitated and then $10,000 annually for 10 years.
Cheers?
What's there to be cheerful about?
A video rental store gets corporate welfare and are able to get out of paying their fair share of property taxes for 10 years.
Will video rental stores even be around in 2017?
Who's going to have to pay more in taxes so that the executives of Family Video get a big fat bonus? That's right, the little people of Charles City.
Although it's now temporary, former Iowa basketball player Pierre Pierce's move back to his parents' home in Illinois is soon expected to become permanent, Iowa Department of Correct-ions spokesman Fred Scaletta said Thursday.
"The only final piece here, even though it's pretty much a done deal, is we're still waiting for the official paperwork from Illinois that says he is accepted," Scaletta said. "We've gotten a verbal (confirmation) on it, so we know it's going to happen."
Once it's made official, which Scaletta said he anticipates will be soon, Pierce's Iowa probation will be supervised by Illinois. Pierce has about 3.5 years of probation remaining.
Pierce, who had been living in an apartment in North Liberty, requested permission May 4 to travel to his parents' house in Westmont, Ill., Scaletta said. Pierce had been restricted to living in Iowa after pleading guilty to third-degree burglary, false imprisonment and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, for assaulting a former girlfriend at her West Des Moines apartment in January 2005. He was kicked off the Iowa basketball team a month later.
Once Pierce's travel request was granted by Iowa and Illinois officials, Scaletta said Iowa officials again asked Illinois if the state would accept his supervision. Illinois initially denied that request when Pierce was released from prison in September.
Also, a district judge twice denied a request for Pierce to be able to leave Iowa and pursue a professional basketball career.
That was a pretty stupid thing to deny Pierce the ability to move back to his parents' home in Illinois after he got out of prison.
Wouldn't the State want to get rid of a violent sex offender?
GED recipient and former $368,000-a-year CIETC head Ramona Cunningham with Senator Tom Harkin at the dedication of the "Tom Harkin Learning Center" at CIETC offices in October 20, 2004.
On Thursday, a grand jury indicted a former board member of an embattled job agency firm.
Dan Albritton, 54, of Ankeny, is a former board member of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium and president of the South Central Iowa Federation of Labor...
...Albritton faces one count of conspiracy.
He pleaded the Fifth Amendment before the legislative oversight committee in May 2006.
Thursday's indictment alleges that, as a board member, Albritton changed the agency's policy to allow Cunningham to award herself and others pay raises without any oversight and then tried to cover it up.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign sent supporters an email last night calling attention to a recent blog entry by a key backer of hers, former Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, describing “Hillary’s strong organization in Iowa and office openings across the Hawkeye State.”
But the e-mail did not say this: At a meeting of 200 Clinton donors and supporters in Washington last Tuesday, Mr. Vilsack warned that the campaign had a lot of work to do in order to win the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in Iowa next January.
“We’re not winning Iowa today,” Mr. Vilsack told the audience, according to two people who attended.
Mr. Vilsack did not return phone messages requesting an interview. Clinton campaign advisers, however, did not deny the comment attributed to Mr. Vilsack, who spoke at a “major supporters briefing” that the campaign held last Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton’s senior advisers, as well as several fundraising bundlers and outside advisers to her campaign, briefed the audience on the campaign’s political strategy, communications plans, polling, and other issues.
Mr. Vilsack made clear that he believes the Clinton campaign can (and will) win Iowa when the time comes. But, in light of some polls showing that former Senator John Edwards has a lead over her in Iowa, Mr. Vilsack said that Iowa cannot be taken for granted. County-by-county organizational strength is essential for victory — building a machine in each county that will turn undecided voters into supporters, and then pull them out on the winter night of the caucuses to vote.
Vilsack is absolutely correct here, although he should probably shut his mouth unless he wants to become another victim of Arkancide.
A potential candidate has to spend a lot of time at 100-person barbeques in Davenport presenting plans and building trust, or at least hanging out with the kids and laughing at a beer bong. You just can't see Hitlery doing that.
Sen. Barack Obama drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes' death toll during a speech Tuesday, saying 10,000 had died.
The death toll was 12.
''In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed,'' he said in a speech to 500 people at a Richmond art studio for a fund-raiser.
He mentioned the disaster in saying he had been told by the office of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius that the state's National Guard was depleted by the Iraq war.
''Turns out that the National Guard in Kansas only had 40 percent of its equipment and they are having to slow down the recovery process in Kansas,'' Obama said
Just keep repeating the same lie over and over again and maybe it'll become the truth.
Sebelius, meanwhile, is backpedaling in Topeka concerning her statements about the Kansas National Guard.
Here's a video of still shots from Greensburg the day after the tornado struck. Notice how the streets are clear of debris. That's the difference between small town America and some po' and corrupt urban mess like Nawlins when natural disaster strikes. You don't see the residents of Greensburg wandering aimlessly and looting while some homo from CNN is screaming into a microphone and a TV camera.
Shawn Bentler "coldly and systematically slaughtered his entire family," prosecutors said Monday during opening arguments in his first-degree murder trial.
Bentler, 23, of Quincy, Ill., is accused of fatally shooting his parents and three teenage sisters in the early morning hours of Oct. 14, 2006, at their home in Bonaparte. He's on trial in Van Buren County District Court before Judge Michael R. Mullins after waiving his right to a jury trial.
"There were five brutal slayings that took place at the Bentler house," said Scott Brown, assistant attorney general. "The evidence will overwhelmingly prove that the person that pulled the trigger each and every time was the defendant Shawn Bentler."
Bentler, dressed in a black suit, sat calmly while Brown described in detail the shootings of his parents Michael, 53, and Sandra, 47, and his three teenage sisters, Shayne, 14, Shelby, 15, and Sheena, 17.
Brown began his opening statement by referring to a 911 call from Shayne Bentler the morning of the murders. Authorities say the tape links Shawn to the murders.
"The defendant, Shawn Bentler ... coldly and systematically slaughtered his entire family," Brown said. "He gunned down his father Michael, his mother Sandra, his oldest sister Sheena, his sister Shelby, and his sister Shayne as she called for help."
Prosecutors played the 911 call on Monday. Defense lawyers had tried to suppress the tape, calling its contents hearsay.
The call, followed by another not answered by 911 dispatch in time, sent authorities rushing to the Bentler house in Bonaparte at 3:38 a.m. When they arrived, officers found five bodies in what Brown described as a "horrendous" scene. Witnesses testified that at least two of the girls may have been trying to hide in closets when they were shot, and their mother's body was found slumped over a chair.
POSTVILLE --- Union officials say about 200 employees on Monday walked out of the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant.
The work stoppage began when company officials asked an unknown number of employees about a letter Agriprocessors received from the Social Security Administration, said Carl Ariston, executive assistant to the regional director of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
The letters said information provided by the workers did not match federal records, he said.
Ariston added company officials denied requests by employees to see the letters, which prompted some to leave their jobs.
"The workers were unsatisfied with their response and approximately 200 people walked out," he said.
Work eventually resumed after Sholom Rubashkin, vice president of Agriprocessors in Postville, --- using an interpreter --- talked employees into coming back, Ariston said.
Rubashkin denied any disruption occurred.
"The people that checked in this morning stayed until the end of the shift," he said.
Rubashkin said mismatched Social Security numbers happen regularly in the course of business. The company will ask employees about the matter, but it's usually not a big deal.
Rubashkin accused Ariston and the union of trying to stir up controversy where none existed.
"I don't know why he's trying to drum it up as an issue," he said.
No official union exists yet at the Agriprocessors facility, but United Food and Commercial Workers have been trying to organize plant workers for about eight months, Ariston said.
Golly, why did Sholom Rubashkin need an interpreter?
Does he speak some language other than English???
Ohhhhh, I get it now. The employees speak some language other than English!
New criticism of the Iraq war is emerging as Kansas residents complain too few National Guard troops are around to help in the aftermath of last weekend's killer tornadoes. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the complaints are "legitimate," as he says more Guard members are being used in Iraq now than at any time since World War Two.
More than 300 members of the Kansas National Guard have been activated in response to a powerful tornado that almost destroyed the town of Greensburg, Kan., May 4.
Guard members are assisting in search-and-rescue efforts in the wake of the tornado, which was classified as an F-5, the highest rating given by the National Weather Service.
The tornado wiped out much of the small town, knocking out power, water, natural gas and communications. To date, 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries have been reported.
The Kansas National Guard’s 278th Sustainment Brigade has established a joint task force near the incident site. In addition to search-and-rescue efforts, the troops are working on power generation, logistical support, debris clearing, support to law enforcement, supporting establishment of shelters and distribution of food and water.
Currently, the Kansas National Guard has 88 percent of its forces available, 60 percent of its Army Guard dual-use equipment on hand, and more than 85 percent of its Air Guard equipment on hand, said Randal Noller, public affairs officer for the National Guard Bureau. Under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which is a national partnership agreement that allows state-to-state assistance during governor or federally declared emergencies, Kansas has more than 400,000 Guardsmen available to it, he pointed out. However, Kansas has not yet requested assistance from other states.
The National Guard Bureau has offered liaison, operational, communications, contracting, search-and-rescue, public affairs and community relations support, and is prepared to support the governor in any way possible, Noller said.
So Sebelius can call other states and ask for National Guard help, but she doesn't need to because the equipment and personnel are already available within the state.
And it's not like the State couldn't call up companies that rent that sort of equipment. Surely there are numerous companies in towns within a 500-750 mile radius who would gladly rent out whatever is needed.
Oh, but why bother asking those questions. Sebelius made her point on TV and the media has run it worldwide without bothering to fact check anything.
Brownback said Tuesday that local officials and the Kansas National Guard commander all told him they have the resources needed to respond...
"So I asked, privately and publicly, the adjutant general, do you have the equipment you need?" he said. "Because if you don't, we're going to hit Fort Riley and McConnell (Air Force Base) and other places to make sure we have all the equipment we need to respond to disasters. Everybody there said no, we have the equipment we needed."
U.S. Sen. Joe Biden’s plan to solve America’s problems in Iraq had the rapt attention of more than 100 people who crowded the hillside of the former St. Katharine’s School in central Davenport on a pleasant Monday evening...
...The senator’s Iraq plan features specific geographic regions for Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite factions, as well as a central government to distribute oil revenues and administer some services. Some American troops would remain, but most of the 160,000 soldiers deployed there now would return home soon.
I've gotta be honest with ya, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Unless, of course, everybody doesn't agree on the whole package.
Most Iowans are used to candidates talking policy to 100 people at a barbeque prior to the caucuses. Only recently has the "Rock Star" candidate emerged that can pull together 10,000 people for a shallow pep talk and rally.
The Humane Society of the United States wishes to congratulate and thank Davenport’s Sen. Dr. Joe Seng and Rep. Jim Lykam for helping pass a new law prohibiting private ownership of dangerous exotic animals in Iowa. These wild animals are simply too dangerous to keep as pets in our communities. They can attack, they can spread disease, and the average citizen cannot provide the care they need. Escaped animals can endanger people, pets and native wildlife.
This common-sense measure passed the Senate unanimously and passed the House of Representatives by a four-to-one margin.
Thank you Iowa lawmakers for protecting animal welfare and public safety. Whether a lion, tiger, bear, monkey, wolf or dangerous reptile, wild animals belong in the wild, not in our basements and bedrooms.
Scott Wilson Iowa State Program Coordinator The Humane Society of the United States Des Moines
Yes, wild animals definitely do not belong in our bedrooms:
A shortage of trucks, helicopters and other equipment -- all sent to the war in Iraq -- has hampered recovery in a U.S. town obliterated by a tornado, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said on Monday.
"There is no doubt at all that this will slow down and hamper the recovery," Sebelius, a Democrat, told Reuters in Kansas, where officials said the statewide death toll had risen to 12 on Monday.
"Not having this equipment in place all over the state is a huge handicap," Sebelius said.
More than 300 members of the Kansas National Guard have been activated in response to a powerful tornado that almost destroyed the town of Greensburg, Kan., May 4.
Guard members are assisting in search-and-rescue efforts in the wake of the tornado...
...The tornado wiped out much of the small town, knocking out power, water, natural gas and communications. To date, 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries have been reported.
The Kansas National Guard's 278th Sustainment Brigade has established a joint task force near the incident site. In addition to search-and-rescue efforts, the troops are working on power generation, logistical support, debris clearing, support to law enforcement, supporting establishment of shelters and distribution of food and water.
Currently, the Kansas National Guard has 88 percent of its forces available, 60 percent of its Army Guard dual-use equipment on hand, and more than 85 percent of its Air Guard equipment on hand, said Randal Noller, public affairs officer for the National Guard Bureau. Under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which is a national partnership agreement that allows state-to-state assistance during governor or federally declared emergencies, Kansas has more than 400,000 Guardsmen available to it, he pointed out. However, Kansas has not yet requested assistance from other states.
The National Guard Bureau has offered liaison, operational, communications, contracting, search-and-rescue, public affairs and community relations support, and is prepared to support the governor in any way possible, Noller said.
That's pathetic and downright sick on the part of Kathleen Sebelius, who is also the chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Conference, to politicize this event in the context of the war in Iraq.
Naturally, the news media ate up what she said and spread the story worldwide without bothering to check any facts.
This is going to come back to haunt Sebelius. I guarantee it. She's coming off as a petty, partisan, and inept woman, just like Kathleen Blanco turned out to be in Louisiana.
In response to heavy rainfall last night and today, the Iowa National Guard deployed 47 troops in support of local authorities to assist in sandbagging operations in the city of Red Oak, Iowa. Iowa National Guard troops worked with civilian first responders moving sand, filling sand bags and building temporary dams to mitigate the effects of the rising waters.
Even though Iowa Governor Chet Culver is politicizing the war by messing with the American flag, at least he isn't looking like a complete girl by pointing his finger at Bush every time there's a natural disaster in the state. Slightly stupid, yes. But a girl, no.
The Dubuque County Fair has announced musical acts for their grandstand in late July. Included are the Bad Boys Of Rock: Hinder, Buckcherry, and Papa Roach.
Ah, there's nothing quite like a day at the county fair.
Kids, and kids at heart, can walk the midway eating cotton candy, drinking fresh-squeezed lemonade and take a ride on the Ferris wheel. All the while, families can enjoy the old-fashioned summertime atmosphere while strains of "Crazy Bitch" can be heard wafting over the crowd.
OK, so the coarse language sort of spoils the whole nostalgic moment thing, but that's what we can expect at this year's Dubuque County Fair. Among the grandstand acts announced last week is the band Buckcherry, whose best-known hit, "Crazy Bitch," reached No. 2 on the Hot Ringtones chart.
Unfamiliar with this band's act? With the title of its hit song, you can probably guess that it isn't folk music. Buckcherry also has recorded such ditties as "Porn Star" and "Slit My Wrists."
(Verse) Break me down, you got a lovely face, we're going to your place and now you got to freak me out Scream so loud, getting fucking laid, you want me to stay but I got to make my way
2x Chorus: Hey, you're a crazy bitch, but you fuck so good I'm on top of it. When I dream, I'm doing you all night. Scratches all down my back to keep me right on.
(Verse) Take it all, the paper is your game, you jump in bed with fame another one night paid in full You’re so fine, It won’t be a loss, cashing in the rocks just to get you face to face.
2x(Chorus)
(bridge) Get the video, fuck you so good Get the video, fuck you so good Crazy Bitch, Crazy Bitch, Crazy... Bitch
2x (Chorus)
(verse) Baby girl you want it all to be a star you’ll have to go down Take it off, no need to talk you're crazy, but I like the way you fuck me
2x(Chorus) to keep it right on you're crazy but i like the way you fuck me.
That sounds like good, old fashioned family entertainment!
Never had a chance to love you Never want to see you cry
Thank god it's quitting time Fuck me harder kill the lights
Never had a chance to love you Never want to see you cry Never had a chance to love you Hard cock nasty mind
Yeah Well come on
Chorus: Take off your clothes and shut the door Pornagraphic monster on the floor That's what you like, I'll come some more Don't you know we fuck for money I'm a big dick Mother fucking Porno star
In my face, on top again Dead lay lover never wins
Never had a chance to love you Never want to see you cry
The best fuck you'll ever have Good job from a working man
Never had a chance to love you Never want to see you cry Never had a chance to love you Hard cock suicide
The Dubuque County Fair Association, a non-profit organization, is a community resource that exists to educate and promote the culture and heritage of Dubuque County, while uniting urban and rural communities in celebration.
There was all that hand-wringing going on about that old cadaver Don Anus calling the Rutger's women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy-headed ho's" and him being fired, but it's OK in Iowa to hire rappers and rockers that go on about bitches and hos and niggas. I don't understand the double standard here.
A Kalona man faces up to 25 years in prison for allegedly tossing a firecracker down a crowded hall last month at Coral Ridge Mall.
Coralville police arrested Travis Edwin Grout, 19, for first-degree arson. He also was charged with public intoxication and interference with official acts. Grout remained in the Johnson County Jail this morning in lieu of a $20,000 cash-only bond.
According to police reports:
On April 16, a witness saw Grout light a 3-inch long firecracker inside Coral Ridge Mall and throw it down a hallway toward a restroom. As it exploded, it propelled two pieces of cement through the hall. Grout then left the area with four friends.
Police said Grout threw the firecracker in a main hallway near Scheels All Sports in the presence of “countless” people.
Up to 25 years in prison? That seems more than a little harsh. Sounds like the guy needs rehab and a rethink about priorities in life.
If you shove socks into the mouths of your children and then hold their heads in a toilet filled with water while your husband has been fondling the kids for the past decade, you get a 5 year sentence.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that presidential candidates won't be damaged by initial backing of the war in Iraq because voters are holding President Bush responsible for missteps that have led to a gridlock over troop funding.
Speaking during an interview with The Associated Press [Mike Glover], Clinton refused to set standards for what must be included in the funding measure, but made it clear she will find a way to provide the money needed.
"I think you've got to balance everything in a very difficult situation," she said. "I have been long saying you shouldn't send anybody into any combat theater unless they are fully equipped and fully trained."
She said she doesn't "want to prejudge or set standards, I want to support my leadership," adding that "there will be consequences with respect to funding the troops if we cannot work this out."
After Bush vetoed an initial funding bill that included a timetable for pulling the troops out of Iraq, he opened discussions with Democratic congressional leaders. Clinton said that was at least a step in the right direction.
"There truly is, for the first time, an effort to try to negotiate with the president," said Clinton. "I don't know whether there's going to be an agreement that the Democrats will sign off on or not."
Clinton said "of course" she will eventually support a measure paying for the troops regardless of how the negotiations turn out.
The New York senator has joined efforts in the Senate to reverse the initial congressional authorization for the war. She voted to allow Bush to use force, but says she wouldn't cast the same vote given what she knows today.
So if negotiations with the President leads to a bill that continues to fund the war but doesn't have troop withdrawal timetables in it then Hitlery will support it?
Did the John Holmes left wing of the Democratic Party and the Republican Hagelites hear that? Hitlery plans to cave.
"I think that I've taken responsibility for my vote, but there are no do-overs in life. I wish there were. You know, I acted on the best judgement that I had at the time, and at the time I said that this was not a vote for pre-emptive war."
Hitlery voted for H.J. Res 114 on October 11, 2002. It was called A joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.
You know what I'd like to read? Real debate about the war.
The trouble is that the anti-war crowd does such a shallow job of presenting their side. You anti-war types can go on all day about "NO WMDS!!!! Bush LIIIIIED!!!!" but what about the 17 UN resolutions that Saddam Hussein repeatedly violated? Who's supposed to enforce that? And what about Iran ramping up their nuclear campaign? Do you honestly believe that Saddam Hussein wouldn't have wanted to do the same thing if he was still in power? He would have found a way. You anti-war types can't deny that.
As for nation-building, you should know that can't be completed in a couple months or even a couple years. America occupied Japan for nearly 8 years and it took the Soviets 12 years to "de-nazify" their section of Germany. These things take time, but we live in impatient times.
What would happen if the US left Iraq in, say, the next two months? Would the Iranian and Syrian insurgents stop? Of course not. They would take over as much of Iraq, by force, as possible. There would be bloodbaths on the order of the Khmer Rouge. Democrats and Hagelites would continue blame it all on Bush and Cheney and Republicans even though enacting a surrender policy would have caused it all.
You anti-war types hate Bush, Cheney, and all Republicans. You want them all hung and tried and shot. But you'll hold your nose and continue to vote for warmongers like Hillary Clinton or Tom Harkin or John Kerry because they're so nuanced. I don't understand your hypocrisy.
As far as the media goes, they've got a successful campaign going. All they have to do is continue their policy of only covering news when roadside bombs go off or when US soliders are killed. It's a successful strategy for them as it supports their policy of being against the war. And they can say they "support the troops" even though the only time they do so is profiling them when they're dead. It's only because the lefties running newspapers don't understand why anybody would volunteer to be in the military, so the only time they think they have any understanding is when the soldier is dead. Perhaps they might get lucky and find another kooky insane Jew-hating relative like Cindy Sheehan to bash Bush with, which is sort like hitting the jackpot to them because newspapers love to exploit kooky insane Jew-haters for their own political purposes.
Is it any wonder why the monopoly corporate newspapers rarely go over to Iraq or spend any time talking to troops or attempt to find out what's going on? Did you ever think about that? Because the media is so narrow in their focus on reporting the war, the general population has grown weary of reading the same old shit time and time again. That's probably why so many people who take polls consider themselves against the war. Same thing with the Letters To The Editor sections. You get a small number of people repeatedly writing very shallow robotic talking points to a lot of newspapers every month and it becomes this sort of perpetual propaganda machine. That's why Average Joe out there doesn't know anything about the war other than soldiers are dying.
I guess I finally got tired of the monopoly corporate media's take on things. And I guess I'm tired of talking to people in my life who seem to not know shit about what's going on in Iraq, yet they have an opinion that, in their mind, is more important and more nuanced than that of the people managing and working the situation; you know what I'm talking about: the soldiers, the generals, and the Commander In Chief.
Why not try to win the war? Is there something wrong with finishing the job? Do the Democrats and Hagelites have a policy other than pulling out?
Say an anti-war type (hypocrite or not) gets elected as President in 2008 and Congress is still controlled by the Democrats. What then? What is the plan? How long will a policy of "Blame Bush" and "Blame Cheney" and "Bring Bush up on war crimes" last? That shit's going to get old fast. Give Iraq to the terrorist insurgents before the country is ready to fully manage itself militarily and you've got a recipe for major problems for decades to come. You anti-war types know I'm right. Don't sit there with thumbs up your asses like it's not going to happen. You know it is.
What if Saddam Hussein was still in power and still violating UN sanctions? Iraq's neighbor, Iran, currently is ramping up nuclear weapons capability. Do you not think for a second that Saddam Hussein, with enough cash on hand, would be trying to do the same thing if he was kept in power?
You know what? After all I've read lately, I'm ready to say Fuck The Des Moines Register and never read or link to that Jew-hating, terrorist-supporting, dead-soldier-exploiting commie rag ever again. In fact, I think I'll start doing that after this post.
No more Des Moines Register. I'm impeaching them. I encourage the rest of you bloggas to do the same thing.
A 19-year-old Davenport woman was killed in an explosion in Iraq, family members said Thursday.
U.S. Army Pfc. Katie Soenksen, a 2005 graduate of Davenport North High School, was conducting a security mission Wednesday in Baghdad when her convoy was attacked, her father Ronald Soenksen said.
And the initial response in the Register's comment forum for this story:
And many more will follow her as long as the Bush administration continues to follow their insane policy of perpetual warfare in Iraq. We are not wanted or welcome there, and most of the Iraqis see their "government" as a puppet of ours...
And:
The good news is, if there is a heaven and hell, Bush will be quite surprised to find himself amongst his "evil doers" in a very warm climate...
And:
So this illegal invasion based on lies and war profiteering made another victim. Who's counting? Bush certainly isn't. He's never attended one funeral. And what kind of an idiot thinks peace advocates should be hung? Maybe the kind of an idiot who loses his daughter in a totally unnecessary war and still supports it?
And:
This father and his hero Bush have done everything to CUT my freedoms and civil liberties. Bush has been spying on Americans, terrorizing them and putting them in jail without lawyers or fair trials. Bush is out to destroy the US Constitution.
His supporters, the ignorant 28% who still support this madman, are despicable and beneath contempt.
And:
And she was a child. Nineteen years old. Not even old enough to drink alcohol legally. And the second 19 year old Iowan who has died in Iraq within a week. I am sad for her parents who has lost a child and the almost 4,000 sets of American parents who have lost children to this war and the thousands more whose children have reterned to them maimed for life. For the Mission. But what Mission? Mission Accocmplished four years ago last month? Mission Impossible? What "Mission?" we invaded a sovergein nation on the shaky "doctrine" of "pre-emptive war?" We invaded the wrong country. We have taken resources away from fighting Bin Laden and the al-Queda network. This young lady died a hero, but a hero ill-used by her Country. So I mourn for this young lady and all the things she will never be and never have, who sacraficed and was sacraficed for her Country.
Or, the anti-war necrophiliac asshole Left might as well be saying:
Update: This is an email from a new reader of the blog:
We have never met, and to be honest, I have never read anything on your blog. On Wednesday, at the HON furniture plant in Muscatine that I work at, I saw one of my co-workers, a father of three, run up to my boss and say something. He then ran out the door. He had told me before his daughter was serving in Iraq. Today we were told that his daughter was killed in action. She was his baby. I didn't even know he had a son until someone pointed him out to me at the factory and said he worked upstairs. I can't imagine what he must be going through.
Ron, Katie's father, is a good guy. He even tried to come into work today but after an hour decided he should go home.
I'm sending you this because I appreciate the fact that you understand this is someone's daughter. That this is not a statistic. That the people that wish harm upon the soldiers are people that deserve to be shot. I did a google search on Katie Soenksen to see what had been written, and I found a Xanga article that had her picture posted, an explanation, and nothing else. The comments said everything though. There were only six comments, but two of them were retarded. One says, "And the death toll will rise more and more each day" while the other says, "would you like some cheese with that whine?".
I checked the profiles and one of them is seventeen. The other declined to show their picture or their age. Not suprising. I have yet to read the comments on the Des Moines Register site, but I will and I will make a response to them in Ron's defense. Ron is an excellent man, and has solid virtues.
I guess the point of all this is to thank you for being rational. I will make it a regular habit to visit the blog about the 29th state of the union that I, sadly, live in.
My point with reproducing the comments printed on the Register's web site story about Pfc. Katie Soenksen's death is that the Des Moines Register employees and their editors really enjoy exploiting any Iowan who dies over in Iraq. It seriously gets their greying rocks off because they loathe the miliary, they hate Bush, they hate any war, they love dictators, they love terrorists, they hate Jews, they hate democracy, and they love losing - mostly because they themselves are losers.
But the Des Moines Register is a monopoly corporate business in a dying industry, and they've realized if they allow comments on every article their traffic goes up. But along with more traffic comes a lot of problems, such as insensitive assholes.
The anti-war/anti-Bush types try to say they "support the troops" but then photographs of their actions and writings show a completely different attitude as shown in the pictures above.
You know, it's one thing to be against the war because you're a pacifist or whatever. It's another when all you can do is repeat - like a brain damaged robot - all the usual idiotic code phrases that are little more than muddy water about a half inch deep (e.g. "No WMDs!!!" "Bush lieddddd!!!!" "Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11!!!!!" "Hallibutron stole money!!!!").
A lot of people don't like the war - for whatever reason (they're likely tired of hearing the same old reporting by lazy reporters - nothing but the reporting of deaths) - and who's in favor of war? I don't know anybody who LIKES war. But what are you going to do? Imagine if we hadn't taken out Saddam Hussein. Iran still would be proceeding with their attempts to build a nuclear arsenal. YOU CAN BET THAT SADDAM WOULD HAVE WANTED THE SAME THING. You anti-war types can't deny that.
But a lot more people don't like assholes. And lately the assholes are the anti-war kooky leftist liars and terrorist supporters. They're acting like that Fred Phelps and his band of lunatic family members. I think it hurts the anti-war argument when the anti-war movement is taken over by people who act and talk like Fred Phelps. Good luck to the pacifists and the hippies if they try to put that genie back in the bottle.
Recruiting an openly lesbian couple to the University of Iowa made national headlines in 1992.
Law professors Jean Love and Pat Cain had spreads in the Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times, among others, which then led to guest-speaker invitations.
"For one thing, it made it really clear to our students that we were a lesbian couple," Cain said.
It was so unusual for a university to recruit a same-sex couple as a package, particularly to the same department, that it took Cain and Love seven years to land the UI gig. During that time, Cain lived in Texas and Love in California.
"It brought a lot of attention to Iowa," Love said. "Iowa became a place that was known as being good for gay faculty and gay students."
Fifteen "enjoyable" years later it is not so controversial. The distinguished professors are retiring with emeriti status to teach at a new school. They accepted appointments at the University of California-Santa Clara law school where they will start in August.
A former worker at the Cedar Rapids science center who was convicted of stealing more than $10,000 from the nonprofit has been spared prison.
Nancy Listman of Watkins was convicted in March of first-degree theft. She was sentenced this week to a 10-year suspended sentence, five years of probation and a still-to-be-determined restitution.
Watkins worked at the center for a decade in various roles, including bookkeeper. Officials with the science center put the loss at more than $300,000, which prosecutors say includes missing money plus accounting and other costs associated with the investigation.
It's rather poorly written. You don't really get an idea of how much Nancy Listman stole, but it's bound to be a hell of a lot more than $10,000, but slightly less than $300,000.
The president of the Science Station - McLeod/Busse IMAX Dome Theatre board said former employee Nancy Listman's theft played a significant role in the near closing of the non-profit.
"As far as the Science Station is concerned, the actions of Ms. Listman have significantly damaged our organization. We have experienced poor staff morale, a loss of community trust and a loss of donor/contributor trust," Dan Thies stated in a letter read at Listman's sentencing Wednesday in Linn County District Court.
"This type of behavior is unconscionable and completely unacceptable under any circumstance, but particularly when it involves a non-profit organization."
Listman, 54, of Watkins, showed no outward reaction to the letter, or her sentence - a suspended 10-year prison term, five years of probation and a still-to-be-determined restitution. She did not speak during the 20-minute hearing; no one from the Science Station attended the hearing...
...The Science Station put the loss attributed to Listman at $313,108.78, a total that prosecutors say includes missing money plus accounting and other costs associated with the investigation.
That loss - and the potential for Listman to repay the money - is one of the reasons District Judge Nancy Baumgartner did not send Listman to prison.
"Obviously, it is not a crime of violence," Linn County Attorney Harold Denton said after the sentencing. "She (Listman) has no prior record. On the other hand, as the judge said, it was a crime that caused a great deal of harm to the Science Station and the community. So I think it's very difficult to balance the two things out."
In court, Denton said his biggest concern is that Listman was contrite when she first met with police but now seems unwilling to accept what happened.
Listman didn't change her story, but she did change her attitude, Denton said.
Listman initially confessed to police when confronted in early 2005, saying she didn't know how much money she had taken but that it went for gambling and her ill husband. She pleaded not guilty to first-degree theft and went to trial on the theft charge.
Listman did not testify at trial, but her taped statement to police was played. A jury in Tama County - where the trial was moved because of pretrial publicity - found her guilty in March.
Public Defender Brian Sissel, who represented Listman, asked the judge on Wednesday for a deferred judgment and sentence. That way, if Listman successfully completed probation, the charge would be wiped from her record.
The judge declined, which, Sissel said, "will give us an opportunity to appeal her conviction. She's very interested in an appeal."
In a motion for a new trial, which Baumgartner denied, Sissel and public defender David Cmelik said the verdict was contrary to law and evidence, noting the defense financial expert testified that Science Station financial records failed to show any loss.
"The state's lay witness could not attest that there was a loss at the Science Station," the defense attorneys argued. "Of those who believed money had been stolen, none agreed on the actual amount. They further could not reconcile the unlimited safe access granted to over a dozen and a half other possible suspects."
This story in the Gazette is rather confusing, too. Although I think it's safe to say that Nancy Listman stole a lot of money and then Judge Nancy Baumgartner let her off.
I've known people who have had money embezzled from their business. It is not an easy thing to light a fire under a prosecutor's ass about.
I find it odd that some guy sticking up a convenience store or bank can grab a few hundred dollars and earn quite a number of years in the pokey, but a person entrusted with a business or entity's finances can grab a couple thousand every week over a couple of years for their own use and, other than maybe some restitution, they barely get a slap on the wrist.
One car sits on top of another after an accident Monday in the St. Luke's Hospital parking lot in Cedar Rapids. Ethel Steele, 96, of Cedar Rapids, was pulling into the lot off A Avenue NE about 11:20 a.m. when she lost control and stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal, according to a police report. Her car sped across the lot and up an embankment, briefly became airborne, struck a tree and landed atop an unoccupied parked car. Steele was treated for a minor cut to her arm.
Ethel Steele, that's about as perfect of an old school car name as you can get, unless it was spelled Ethyl Steele.
Students at the University of Northern Iowa have designed and built a solar-powered lawn mower -- which they hope you'll be pushing around your yard someday. The UNIMower (YOU-nah-mower) is virtually noiseless. UNI industrial technology professor Reg Pecen says, "It's really quiet using a permanent magnet D.C. motor."
And, like the grass it mows, the UNImower is very green. Pecen says it uses no gas or oil and spews no emissions. Pecen says every weekend, 54-million Americans mow their lawns and use some 800-million gallons of gas per year. He says an EPA study finds all of that mowing using two-stroke engines causes about nine-percent of the air pollution nationwide.
The UNIMower, he says, is very eco-friendly. Pecen says two silver solar panels are mounted on the mower's handles. Pecen says the mower would need to sit in the sun for about six hours to charge and then would be able to run for about an hour, long enough to mow the average home's yard. He says the prototype cost about $1,800 to build
This is such a bad idea.
Who stores their lawn mower, much less an $1800 one, outdoors in order to soak up the sun's rays?
For 90% less money, you could just buy a Sunlawn LMM40 manual reel mower.
The Department of Natural Resources will add 135 new lakes and rivers to the state's list of "impaired waters." DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins says the designation is a benchmark meaning the waterways aren't meeting the uses they're intended for. It could be swimming, fishing, or drinking water, he says. "We monitor these waters to determine whether they are meeting those uses, and we have some waters in Iowa that at this point are not," Baskins says.
There are 366 in all on the "impaired" list right now. Baskins says "our waters are not toxic, they're dirty."
The Young Communists, about 50 of them, were out in Iowa City yesterday for the usual round of juggling, standing on the American flag, wearing red t-shirts, and other anti-American BS as part of May Day, according to the Daily Iowan.
Look at that semi-bearded, pencil-necked geek in the photo above. I bet he's packing a soft 12 inch schlong. He probably has to tie that thing in a knot to keep it from rubbing against his socks.
An Iowa City teen-ager accused in a string of sexual assaults last fall has been found guilty in juvenile court for one of the offenses, and won't be tried on the rest.
Judge Sylvia Lewis found Jonathan D. Powell, 16, guilty of second-degree sexual abuse this morning in Johnson County Juvenile Court. Lewis also found Powell guilty of third-degree burglary for breaking into a man's car in July at a parking ramp on Newton Road.
Powell will be placed in a secured facility that offers treatment for sex offenders, the judge said. He will remain in the Linn County Jail until he is placed. Because he is a juvenile, he will go free at age 18...
...Powell was accused in two other assaults, but prosecutor Beth Beglin said there was no point in proceeding on those. The court already ruled that Powell would be tried as a juvenile in all the cases, and this case alone will keep him incarcerated until he is 18.
I hope this piece of shit gets his ass kicked daily in jail.
Why the fuck wasn't he prosecuted as an adult on any of these charges? Is the prosecutor's officeAre the judges in Johnson County completely brain dead?
Now he'll be able to get out of jail at age 18 and probably rape and kill another woman or rob more people. You know that's going to happen.
Update: From a reader who knows about these sorts of things:
If you read between the lines: the court RULED that he would be tried as a juvenile. That means they tried to waive him to adult court, but the judge said no...
...Because he can only be tried as a juvenile he will be in the juvenile system until 18 on this charge, and won't get any worse for the other two charges, so they don't see the point in going through two more trials when he won't get any worse of a punishment. That, and they're probably pissed he didn't get waived.
You're probably right, and I'm retracting what I said about the prosecutor's office. Obviously a judge had the final authority on whether Powell should be tried as an adult or a juvenile.
Just looking through the newspapers via Google searches, I get the impression that perhaps the prosecutor's office made an effect to get more publicity about the case. It even made the Des Moines Register.
The question I have is: Who was the judge who made the call to put this in juvenile court? I can't imagine it was the same judge who rendered the verdict, District Associate Judge Sylvia Lewis. Judge Lewis seemed very angry at this kid for offering up preposterous testimony in his own defense, at least according to the news reports I've read. Whoever the judge is who forced this into juvenile court, he or she should be kicked out of office, preferably by an angry mob of women.
Second update: From a different reader:
According to the County Atty's office in Iowa City, who prosecuted the case, it WAS Judge [Sylvia] Lewis who refused to try Jonathon Powell as an adult.
I can only hope that the voters don't forget this next time Judge Lewis comes up for retention.
I took a look at the Trial Court Search for POWELL, JONATHAN DARRION Case: 06521 JVJV004692 (JOHNSON) and indeed Judge Sylvia Lewis did the following, filed on April 13, 2007: MOTION TO WAIVE TO CRIMINAL COURT -DENIED.
Powell was born on April 8, 1991, so he was just a few months older than 15 at the time of this sexual assault charge (July 2006). Perhaps that's why Judge Sylvia Lewis kept it in juvenile court?
15 year olds who are breaking into cars should go to juvie, not 15 year olds who have three different sexual assault incidents. Animals like Jonathan Powell should be put away from society for a long time, not just the next two years until they can get out at age 18 and escalate the violence.
Surely there will be more stories on this particular trial in the future. I'd bet that rape victim advocacy groups will be pissed off and demand that voters fire Judge Lewis in the future. It's too bad that voters don't track and kick out the bad judges with more vigor.
Education: BA, Coe College, 1971; JD, University of Iowa, 1974.
Career: Judge Lewis was in private practice with Legal Services of Iowa from 1974 until her appointment to the bench.
Professional Activities: She has chaired the Supreme Court Committee of Juvenile Rules of Procedure and has served on the Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, the Council on Chemically Exposed Infants and Children, and the Juvenile Laws Committee. She is a member of the Iowa Judges Association, the National Association of Women Judges, and the Johnson County Bar.
Quite a resume. I'm curious to know why she kept Jonathan Powell's trial in juvenile court.
I don't think Rekha does a very good job of telling the Dick Farrell story, but I'll give her points for writing something because he's the reason why many, many people are alive, sober, drug-free, or attempting to be in Central Iowa.
Iowans love a drunk-gone-good, that's why Harold Hughes was so beloved. During a re-election debate in 1964, Hughes's opponent asked about an alcohol relapse in 1954 and Hughes famously replied: "I am an alcoholic and will be until the day I die ..... But with God’s help I’ll never touch a drop of alcohol again. Now, can we talk about the issues of this campaign?" which ensured his landslide victory.
I was very disappointed in the Register's editorial claiming that Congress acted improperly in setting guidelines for troop withdrawal from Iraq as a condition of continued funding of the war ("Demand Accountability on War," April 18).
While the president may be the commander in chief, I do not believe our Constitution provides for a four-year military dictatorship. The framers of the Constitution gave Congress the power to declare war and the power of the purse. The primary responsibility of the president as a member of the executive branch of government, is to execute the policies of Congress, not the reverse.
- Larry Walshire, Des Moines
So if Congress passes something, the President should just rubber stamp it?
Oh yes, this Larry Walshire fella is from Des Moines, home of many rubber stamps. Maybe that's why he thinks the way he does.
Richard "Dick" Farrell, known throughout Iowa as a tireless advocate for young people trying to get free from drugs and alcohol, died peacefully Wednesday at his home in Des Moines surrounded by a loving family. He was 69.
Farrell lived his life based on a promise he made to God 30 years ago “to do anything you want me to do for the rest of my life, if you can help me stay sober.” True to his promise, Dick was a leading figure in the recovery community of Central Iowa, and co-founder of Our Primary Purpose Treatment Center, where thousands of adolescents and their families shared their experience, strength and hope for recovery.
Dick was born on September 16, 1937, in Des Moines, Iowa to Edwin R. and Margaret (Cody) Farrell. Richard graduated from Des Moines’ Dowling High School in 1955. He attended St. Ambrose College in Davenport and also Grandview College in Des Moines.
Richard was in sales for several years before embarking on a life of counseling and serving the youth of Central Iowa to become free from alcohol and drugs. His passion was working with kids and reaching out to them through his experience and faith.
Dick believed in miracles, not only for himself but also for others. He carried his message of hope to thousands of young adults in his treatment center in the 80’s and continued to do so long afterwards in private counseling. “My philosophy with kids is that you have to love them until they are able to love themselves,” he would say.
Dick Farrell will be dearly missed.
Richard leaves behind a son, Joseph and his wife Tayla and their daughter Hope, a daughter, Missy Kinter and her husband John and their children Cody and Ella, a daughter Christina Dix and her husband Scotty and their son, Ethan. A sister, Sherry Villirillo and her husband Joe and their children Teri Nikolas, Anne Foote, Mike Villirillo and Janet Greene also survive him, as well as all the friends of Bill W.
Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m., Monday April 30, at Westover Chapel at 6337 Hickman Rd., Des Moines.
The funeral service will be at 10 a.m., Tuesday, May 1, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church at 2922 Beaver Ave., Des Moines. Burial will follow at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Alano Society at 1400 Pennsylvania Ave., Des Moines, IA. 50317 or New Directions Shelter at 3001 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA 50312
Dick Farrell WILL be missed. He is the reason why many, many people are alive, sober, drug-free, or attempting to be in Central Iowa.
See HF 413. Once the effective dates finally kick in, reports will be filed electronically, a searchable database made available, and no more PDFs for state candidates.
HF 413 changes campaign finance law to begin the process of requiring campaign committees to file reports electronically and to assist the agency in dealing with the large numbers of reports which are faxed or brought in on the deadline day.
The electronic filing requirements of the bill apply only to legislative and statewide candidates. All newly-formed committees must file electronically by 2010. Existing committees are required to file electronically by 2012. The Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board will post on its Web site all statements and reports required to be filed (this does not include bank statements).
Statewide and legislative candidates who file electronically must do so by 4:30 p.m. (rather than 5 p.m.) on the date due. Any report that is required to be filed five days prior to an election must be physically received by the board by 4:30 p.m. on the due date. This requirement is for both paper and electronic filings. The bill passed the House 71-26. [4/10: 39-10]
That's pathetic.
Shameful, really.
What a joke.
5 more years before existing committees are required to file electronically?
3 more years before new campaigns are required to file electronically?
What the hell is that? That is a joke. You've got to be kidding.
They're not kidding.
The Iowa Legislature could have mandated electronic filing and disclosure over 10 years ago. A database users could search via the web could have easily been in place by the late 1990s. Yet in Iowa it'll be 2012 before everybody is on board and the scanned PDFs are a thing of the past.
If you look at statistics for the Iowa Southern District Bankruptcy Court, you'll find that overall bankruptcy numbers are down compared to previous years, although there was a spike in 2005 because of the pending legislation. If trends continue, 2007 will have more bankruptcies filed and signed off by judges than 2006. And I'll bet that numbers will continue to rise in future years.
The point of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 was to issue a means test in order to force more people into Chapter 13 (reorganization / repayment) rather than Chapter 7 (total discharge). As you can see from the Iowa Southern District Bankruptcy statistics, there hasn't been a substantial increase in the total number of Chapter 13 bankruptcies. Before the reform bill passed, about 5% or 6% of overall bankruptcies were Chapter 13. Today, it's around 14%-15%. Of course, it's pretty easy for a lawyer working a bankruptcy case on behalf of a client to fudge the numbers in order to qualify for Chapter 7.
What I'm curious to discover in future years is whether or not judges will continue to rubber stamp ridiculous Chapter 7 bankruptcies like this one in 2005 where debts were $5413 and assets were $3675. Perhaps term limits for bankruptcy court judges would have been a smarter idea because too many judges had completely lost their common sense.
A Cedar Falls woman has been sentenced to five years in prison after admitting she stuffed socks in her children's mouths and held their heads in the toilet as punishment.
Valerie Stanton, 31, received her sentence last week after pleading guilty to two counts each of child endangerment with bodily injury and assault causing bodily injury.
Authorities said Stanton abused her two children for several years with beatings and other unusual punishments.
Her husband, Daniel Stanton, 39, is charged with second-degree sexual abuse stemming from allegations he fondled the children repeatedly over nine years. His case in pending in court.
She only got a five year sentence? You know that means she'll be out in a few months or, at most, a couple of years. And how could she not know that her husband was fondling the kids for nine years?!?!
Find me a short rope and a tall tree and we can call that justice here. "Parents" who abuse children in such a manner deserve nothing less.
So now it will take $70 million in Iowa taxpayers' money on top of the $48 million of federal taxpayers' money to make this rain-forest project appear to be "economic development."
What I am most annoyed by is the spinning of this weird plan into some notion of an "environmental center" called Earthpark. We are not talking about the Neal Smith Prairie here, we are talking about building a glass bubble with a huge parking lot on the shores of beautiful Lake Red Rock. The beauty of the lake enjoyed by evening and nighttime paddlers and anglers will be gone thanks to the noise and light pollution of the rain-forest, aquarium-hotel parking-lot complex.
I like Lake Red Rock the way it is. This project involves putting the wrong plants and animals in the wrong place, out of their natural habitat, inside an expensive, energy-eating monstrosity that will have to be put in a landfill some day. Why are they doing this? Follow the money. Why not enjoy nature as it is? Because there is not enough profit to be generated from the simple hike, kayak outing or fishing trip on Lake Red Rock.
