A Followup On The Iowa Farm Bureau E85 Chopper Raffle

In response to a recent post ("More On The Iowa Farm Bureau's E-85 Chopper Scam"), a reader writes:

Interesting reading on your blog about the raffle. I thought I would throw my 2 cents worth in. I am a tax expert, as I have done taxes in the spring for the past five years for one of the major tax prep firms. Prizes are always taxable by the fed and the state (Iowa anyway, other states differ). The question is how they come up with the value of the prize? Okay, the $50,000 cash, that's accountable, but $100,000 value for taking the bike?!! I don't think so. The value should be an appraisal or what you can sell it for. I wonder the 100K figure is what Orange County choppers is writing off as a donation. I sure wouldn't think that bike would bring more than $20-30K at an auction. Quote form IRS Pub 17 "Prizes and awards in goods and services must be included in your income at their fair market value." (Emphasis mine).

Thanks for writing.

I'd be surprised if the Iowa Farm Bureau can generate $50,000 in raffle ticket sales, especially after the problems the University of Iowa had with raffling off their customized chopper earlier this year. The UI only sold about $32,000 worth of tickets in an eight month timeframe for that bike. We'll see, I guess.

Fred Barnes Has Tom Harkin Pegged All Wrong

Freddy "The Beadle" Barnes:

Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg found that a majority of Republicans and independents opposed the immigration bill. Democrats were split evenly.

Worse for Democrats, the poll suggested the reelection of some Democratic members of Congress might be jeopardized if they backed immigration
reform. "Demagogic attacks are not ineffective," Greenberg found. "In terms of the battleground districts, immigration attacks are more likely to play a key role in Democratic rural and exurban districts where opposition towards immigration is stronger and Democrats hold a smaller advantage."

So Democrats in Washington, with the exception of Kennedy and senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Ken Salazar of Colorado, were not enthusiastic about the bill. Reid was lukewarm at best. And all five Democrats running for reelection in red states in 2008--Max Baucus of Montana, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia--voted to kill the bill.

The excuses some senators used to explain their "no" votes and mask their political motives were laughably lame. Harkin said he feared some workers could have been denied jobs "because of errors in a government database."

Fred Barnes didn't bother to read Tom Harkin's statement last year concerning immigration reform. It was refreshingly rational then and it's rational today.

What's up with Tom Harkin anyway? He voted to continue funding of the war in Iraq. He's going to vote to let Republican Jim Nussle be the head of the White House Office Of Mismanagement and Budget Deficits. Now he's siding with the likes of Steve King on immigration reform!

If any Republican had a voting record like that, would a Democrat or progressive vote for him? Ever? No freakin' way!!!

Experts

From the Quad City Times:

The latest attempt at coming up with viable immigration reform ended in the dust earlier this week. But local experts and residents are still concerned about what happens to them or relatives who are undocumented immigrants.

On Friday, Quad-Cities Interfaith along with Churches United of the Quad-City Area hosted an Immigration Conversation in Davenport. Planning for the event occurred before Thursday’s vote in the U.S. Senate.

“It’s a very sad moment,” said panelist Iaz Pittman, an immigration attorney in Iowa City. “As far as I’m concerned, I cannot foresee any further debate or relief for the 12 million undocumented immigrants or the United States citizens that depend on them, whether they’re farmers or family members or small businesses, for at least three years.”

She has 20 years experience as an immigration lawyer. The two other panelists were Judy Morrell, director of the Davenport Civil Rights Commission, and Lori Chesser, an immigration attorney.

Thursday’s vote that derailed the Senate bill gives the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, “a green light to beef up enforcement and proceed to deportations,” Pittman said. “Nationwide, we are becoming a militaristic nation. It reminds me very much of the Cuba I come from.”

ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Pittman asked what would have happened if the American Indians had had the ability to decide which and how many Europeans were eligible to settle in the New World.

STOPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, that's dumb. Like the natives in North America had an established country going when whitey showed up.

Talk about a one-sided article and a one-sided forum.

Just that first paragraph shows the BIAS that "reporter" Mary Louise Speer is pushing.

Nevermind polls that show 70% or more of US residents who opposed the Shamnesty bill.

Where's the Fairness Doctrine for newspapers?

Propane And Propane Accessories After-The-Fact

From the Albuquerque Tribune:

As a longtime farmer, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said he quickly saw the folly of new propane regulations proposed by the Department of Homeland Security. The proposal would list propane as a chemical of interest when kept in quantities greater than 7,500 pounds, forcing a costly risk assessment.

Propane "is used by virtually every farmer to dry their grain or heat their house," Grassley said. "Hopefully, they just don't understand how the new regulations would affect every farmer or even non-farmer."

Grassley sent a letter to Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff on the matter.

Wow! A letter!

I bet Michael Chertoff is just quaking in his shoes!

Here's some more info on the matter from the National Propane Gas Association:

DHS's 7,500 pound (1,785 gallons) threshold for propane is very low and will force tens of thousands of retail facilities and customer sites to go through their “Top Screen” security process.

Some examples in just a few areas of the country illustrate how many sites will be adversely affected by this government rule. In the state of Iowa, one small farm cooperative alone serves nearly 9,000 farms and agricultural sites with more than 7,500 lbs. of propane. A major national propane marketer estimates that at least 21,500 customer and business locations would fall under DHS’s threshold for propane. And a small marketer in California estimates their 200 ordinary business customers each would have to submit a costly initial survey to DHS or face fines.

In the last ten years alone, approximately 530,000 thousand-gallon ASME-standard propane tanks have been constructed and installed in locations across the United States. Having only three of these 1,000-gallon tanks—manifolded together or not—would cause a facility to fall under the low DHS 7,500 lbs. threshold. An average 1,000-gallon tank can have a useful life of almost 50 years when properly maintained.

Facilities storing more than 7,500 lbs. of propane are found all across the United States in every county and state. To name a few locations, these tanks are found at hospitals, nursing homes, mobile home parks, small industrial businesses, campgrounds, construction sites, large “big-box” retailers, small and large farms, and cylinder refill stations across the nation. They provide customers their heating fuel or fuel to power industrial or agricultural equipment.

Retail propane marketers store propane for distribution to local customers. The 11,000 sites operated by NPGA’s 3,000 propane marketers members and many other industry customers can have storage tanks as large as 30,000 gallons.

DHS is setting up a situation where ordinary citizens and companies who rely upon propane for their energy will be subject up to $25,000 per day in fines for violating their rules. This is not fair, since storage of propane at the current threshold level is simply not something that poses national security risks.

DHS’s cost impact does not take into consideration that these rules may cause propane customers to switch fuels, thus negatively impacting one of America’s most environmentally friendly and widespread portable fuels. Propane competes with electricity and fuel oil for serving the needs of people for home and water heating and cooking, among other applications. Requiring many of the propane industry’s customers to submit a “Top Screen” analysis to DHS will provide powerful incentives for them to switch to other fuels with a greater environmental impact. A small propane marketer in Pennsylvania estimates that their 73 customers who may fall under this rule could together cost the company $182,500 in additional compliance costs just to fill out the "Top Screen" analysis.

I've got a better idea. Why don't we force more lactating mothers to drink their own breast milk before getting on an airplane? That'll make America more secure. Right?

E85 Goes To Washington

From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

Brookings-based VeraSun Energy Corp. announced Thursday that it is one of the partners making E85 fuel available for the first time in Washington, D.C.

Pumps at the Georgetown Chevron and at the Navy Exchange station near the Pentagon now offer the blend of gasoline and 85 percent ethanol...

...There are about 3.5 million "flex-fuel vehicles" able to use E85 in the U.S., but most drivers have little or no access to the fuel.

That's because it's a rotten deal, financially.

Georgetown Chevron had a promotional thing today with the hooch fuel going for 85 cents a gallon for two hours. Now it's back to $2.55 a gallon.

Looking at Washington DC gas prices, the lowest 100% gasoline price today is $2.94 a gallon.

E85 is about 30% less efficient than a regular gallon of 100% gasoline, so if you had a gasoline car that got 29 mpg, the E85 car would likely get about 20 mpg. To go the same distance as a gallon of 100% gasoline, the E85 car will spend $3.63 in fuel.

Meanwhile, back in Iowa, this is from Wallace's Farmer:

Last week, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge joined with officials from the Department of Administrative Services and the American Lung Association at the "Kicking the Oil Addiction" workshop to encourage greater E-85 ethanol use in state government and across the state...

...At the event, Culver signed his third executive order to establish a goal for using E85 in state-owned flex-fuel vehicles. "Many state employees who drive these cars are not filling them up with E85, even when it is readily available. Instead they are choosing to use E10 or even regular unleaded," said the governor. "This is unacceptable. As representatives of a government that has committed itself to promoting renewable energy, our employees must use E85 whenever possible. To ensure this happens, I'm proud to issue Executive Order #3."

The order sets a goal of 60% E85 use in state government flex-fuel vehicles by 2009, and orders the new Office of Energy Independence to work with the Department of Administrative Services to develop ways to achieve this new goal.

Lt. Gov. Patty Judge discussed how E85 helps air quality. She says, "We must take steps now to help reduce the amount of toxins in our air so people with lung disease and breathing problems can live happier and fuller lives.

This, coming from Patty Judge, has to be some of the most hypocritical bullshit imaginable.

Now it's all about reducing toxins in the air.

Nevermind that Patty Judge's failed gubernatorial campaign accepted $10,000 from the illegal-employing and dumping-shit-into-the-river DeCoster family.

Oh, I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I meant the repeat offender DeCoster family.

I can see it now. The Democratic government flunkies in Des Moines will be spending weeks pouring over gasoline purchase logs, wondering why so-and-so didn't fill up the guzzling Tahoe with overpriced hooch and swill rather than on-every-corner dino power.

Anything to make the cost of government go up up up!

More On The Iowa Farm Bureau's E-85 Chopper Scam

From a reader, who wrote this huge email. Read the whole thing:

Read your blog this morning about the E 85 chopper. The E85 chopper is as big a rip-off as E 85 fuel.

After reading your blog, I went to www.jointherideiowa.com to take a look at the official rules for this raffle. What a bunch of hooch this is!

1. Not only do you not have to be 21 to buy a ticket, you don't even have to be 18 today...you just have to be 18 by the time of the drawing. I guess the Iowa Farm Bureau is fine with minors gambling as long as it serves their own purposes.

2. Winner will be announced at the Iowa/Iowa State football game.

Let's see, the DSM Register goes crazy about the Lottery running a game with a Hawkeye car, the U of I gets sued over a Hawkeye chopper raffle but the Farm Bureau gets a free pass with their raffle? Plus the winner is required to participate in a winner publicity announcement at the Iowa/Iowa State game.

3. The winner is going to get screwed over by the tax man! The rules state the total value of the grand prizes is $100,000. The winner is responsible for all federal, state and local taxes.

Attention folks, that's going to run the winner about $38,000. $38,000 for that eye sore...you better think twice before you buy a ticket.

4. In addition to the tax bill, the winner is"solely responsible for all taxes, tariffs, fees, licensing, registration and title costs, and other costs related with the prize, its transportation, titling and use."

Bend over again my lucky winner...your bill is open ended. Anything the Farm Bureau wants to assess they can.

5. But wait you say, just take the $50,000 cash prize. Ever heard of Constructive Receipt? The IRS could rule that you actually won $100,000 (as is stated in the Rules as the value of the grand prize) instead of $50,000. So after you pay the $38,000 or more in taxes, there won't be much left.

6. But this is the best rule yet..."The IFBF reserves the right to cancel the raffle at any time." Further down in the rules it states that "all monies paid for the raffle will be refunded upon request."

You got to be kidding me. The Farm Bureau is selling raffle tickets for a prize that they can decide, AT ANY TIME, that they won't give away. And if they decide to cancel the raffle, it is up to you to contact them to get your money back!!!

This whole raffle is a travesty. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Feel free to share the rest of the information with your readers.

Thanks for getting out the shovel and digging, sir!

I'm not sure on the whole "constructive receipt" thing being applicable here, mostly because the Iowa Farm Bureau says: "The winner will be required to complete an affidavit of eligibility and a publicity release form prior to accepting the prize. The winner’s failure to execute and return to the IFBF the required forms within fourteen (14) days of the drawing date, shall be deemed a voluntary forfeiture and disclaimer of the winner’s prize, and a second drawing will take place among the remaining tickets." They're pretty quick about forcing the winner to accept a prize. I'm not a tax expert, though.

What disturbs me is that the winner has to take the motorcycle "as is", despite knowing that it's been hauled all over Iowa throughout the summer. If there was a problem, how comfortable would you be getting some insanely customized bike by Orange County Choppers worked on anywhere in Iowa?

The whole idea of a chopper raffle, much less an E85 chopper raffle, is so bad on many levels. I can't see many women buying tickets. How many young people could afford the taxes on the prize? You can only drive the thing on a limited number of days in Iowa. What if somebody steals or scratches it? Of all motorcycles, choppers are the least efficient. And the whole point about E85 is energy independence rather than energy conservation and efficiency. Who cares about buying fuel made from a corn field when you're wasting it in such a ridiculous way?

Update On Al Gore's National Example

From KGAN-TV's web site:

The Osada Apartments [in downtown Cedar Rapids] generated a lot of attention in the late 1990's. A non profit housing group rehabilitated an old warehouse and turned it into affordable urban apartments for low income families. Then Vice President Al Gore came to Cedar Rapids to dedicate the project in early 1998.

But in recent years, Osada ran into lots of trouble. Tenants constantly complained about trash, damage to parts of the building and a lack of maintenance. The collapse of the non-profit Mid-American Housing Partnership, or MAHP, last year left the Osada complex in limbo.

Only about half of the 67 units in the old warehouse are currently occupied. Building managers haven't allowed new tenants to move in for months because of the unsettled situation.

Those familiar with the situation say there are several possible outcomes to the problems at Osada. One solution may be to shut the building down and find new affordable housing for existing tenants.

Er, what was it that Al Gore said in 1998?

Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday that the Osada affordable-housing project in Cedar Rapids "sets a national example" of a public-private partnership that can revitalize inner cities.

"For years in our country we've seen a misguided strategy of abandoning the inner city and using tax dollars to subsidize developments out in cornfields," Gore said in a 20-minute speech that was part of Osada dedication ceremonies.

The vice president spoke to about 200 invited guests in the atrium section of the five-story building, transformed from an old grocery warehouse and soda factory into 67 apartment units by MidAmerica Housing Partnership (MAHP) of Cedar Rapids...

Gore praised developers of the project at 905 Third St. SE, saying it's not just to provide tax breaks to private partners "but to bring the community together." He said the idea of bankers, representatives of the neighborhood, potential residents and government sitting at the same table "has provided the energy for this project."

Gore heads President Clinton's Community Empowerment project, the formal name for revitalization efforts involving residents of inner cities. He said when he and Clinton came to office, "we were hard-pressed to find a single success story in inner urban America."

Doh!

Do any newspaper, radio, or TV reporters want to ask Bill and Hillary Clinton about this next week? They'll be in Iowa City on Tuesday.

I doubt any members of the suckup media would ask any questions about this sort of thing during the Clintons' visit. The media are simply too wimpy and scared to ask politicians about failed policies, programs, and utter wastes of taxpayer dollars. And the Clintons would likely respond by blaming it on Bush Administration for (cough) having too healthy of an economy.

Grassley and Harkin Vote Against The Shamnesty Bill

On the umpteenth vote for cloture on the Shamnesty Bill that El Presidente Jorge Wetback Bush and Ted "Swimming To Hyannis" Kennedy and Jon "Pack Your Bags, Traitorous RINO" Kyl supported and sponsored, both Senator Tom Harkin and Senator Chuck Grassley helped to shoot it down.

Well, good.

Now it's time to consider a Constitutional Amendment that caps the number of terms that a senator can serve to one. We've got too many elitist old farts on both sides of the aisle who cook up this sort of legislative nonsense. Kick their flabby asses out forever. Take away their pensions. And quit trying to fuck up this country more than you already have.

Update, from the Sioux City Urinal:

Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican, has been opposed to the bill from the start, while Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, previously had said he wanted to see if the bill could be improved to the point that he could support it.

But Harkin said just prior to the vote he has decided the bill has too many flaws to go forward.

"The longer this bill is out there, the worse it gets," he said in a conference call with reporters.

The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 they needed to limit debate and clear the way for a final vote.

Harkin said the bill's proposed guest-worker program is "an open invitation" for illegal immigrants which will insure the continuation of the problems the bill is trying to solve.

"We'll have a whole new group of undocumented workers," he said.

Harkin's right.

Bill Richardson Pulls Ahead Of Obama In Iowa

From the UPI:

A poll released by the presidential campaign of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson showed him gaining support in Iowa, but John Edwards is still in the lead.

The poll of 500 likely Democratic caucus goers, conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates, found the former U.S. senator from North Carolina in the lead with 34 percent, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., at 24 percent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at 17 percent and Richardson at 13 percent, The Hill reported Wednesday.

However, among those deemed by the Richardson campaign to be the "likeliest" caucus goers -- those who participated in the 2004 caucus, voted in the 2006 midterms and say they will "definitely" attend the 2008 caucus -- the candidate moved ahead of Obama, 18 percent to 16 percent, with Edwards continuing to lead with 31 percent and Clinton following with 23 percent.

Wow, he's really gaining ground.

The Gay-Looking E-85 Chopper

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

A specially designed Orange County Chopper, built to run on ethanol or soybean fuel, generated some local passion from chopper fans and farmers alike Wednesday at McEleney Autoplex, 1600 Highway 1 West.

The chopper, owned by the Iowa Farm Bureau, made a guest appearance in Iowa City to promote renewable energy sources produced on Iowa farms as well as FlexFuel vehicles that use alternative energy...

...The Iowa Farm Bureau contacted Orange County Choppers in Montgomery, N.Y. months ago to promote ethanol, said Tom Joyce, dealer manager for the chopper company.

The chopper took about 45 days to make, Joyce said, including detailing the green paint with soybean leaves and corn ears, hand carving the leather seat with pigs and corn, and etching windmills on the tires. The green color correlates with the energy-efficient theme, Joyce said.

For McEleney dealer Jackie Bruce, the use of ethanol-based fuel for cars is obvious.

"It's the future; E-85 cars aren't as high mileage right now as they could be, but in a few years that could change drastically," Bruce said. "At one time, the Internet was an odd thing, too."

The future isn't going to be E-85-capable cars and trucks, no matter what the farm welfare recipients and a couple of deranged senators are saying.

And who's this Jackie Bruce with this crap about E-85 cars and their mileage? That's typical of a car dealer to completely lie about the realities of ethanol, isn't it? Just go and lie about ethanol and the shitty mileage you get when you pump it into your car, a car that was produced solely to subvert CAFE standards by clueless Detroit union executives who are unwilling to innovate their vehicles.

Detroit has always been late to the game. They can't produce a hybrid on their own; they have to borrow Japan's technology. They don't bother to offer cars with clean diesel engines that have magnificent fuel economy. Instead we're burning up our food to make fuel, but taxpayers are on the hook for the bill while we're being browbeaten by politicians to use the hooch. What a completely stupid idea.

Another thing I noticed about this news story is that there's no mention of the Iowa Farm Bureau's raffle of the chopper. Isn't that the point of hauling this stupid and gay-looking chopper (pea green????) around Iowa? (picture at the Press-Citizen web site)

Don't forget that the University of Iowa tried to raffle off a regular gas-devouring, noisy-ass Hawkeye chopper and ended up losing money and getting sued. What a dumb idea that was. They would have been better off painting a Toyota Prius black and gold with a frickin Herky symbol on the roof. It would have been ugly, but at least women would have bought a raffle ticket, plus you'd have a reasonable vehicle to drive around year-round.

Keeping Up With The Gekkos

From the Waterloo Courier:

In attempt to match the salaries of peers around the state, Hawkeye Community College President Greg Schmitz was given a 13.16 percent raise Tuesday with the promise of more money upon completing his doctorate.

The board of trustees unanimously boosted his salary and benefits $25,000 to $215,000 for the fiscal year starting Sunday following an hour-long closed session.

And from the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Iowa City School District Superintendent Lane Plugge’s work on seeing the 1-cent schools sales tax approved by voters has helped earn him a raise.

The school board voted 4-2 to give Plugge a 7.5 percent pay hike after a closed session discussion Tuesday night. The increase will boost his base salary to $163,400, up from the $152,000 he was making during the last year, board president Toni Cilek said. The board gave Plugge a 9 percent raise last year.

And don't forget Sally "Tiny Bubbles" Mason, who is getting 50% or more in salary and perks than previous UI President David Skorton.

Who Decides What's Fair?

From the DC Examiner:

Why do liberals like Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., keep trying to tell the rest of us what political opinions we must listen to in the media?

Feinstein says she is “looking at” reviving the Fairness Doctrine to counteract the decidedly conservative bent of talk radio. Former President Reagan and a Democratic Congress repealed the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.

She wants to bring it back because she thinks “one-sided programming” pushes the American people into “extreme views” — such as their current opposition to the Bush/Kennedy/McCain immigration bill. She wants “an opportunity to present the other side” by forcing radio stations to offer more liberal fare...

...We remind the senator that talk radio emerged only after decades of federal bureaucrats suppressing the expression of conservative viewpoints from the public airwaves. If Feinstein doubts this history, she should read “The Good Guys, the Bad Guys and the First Amendment” by Fred Friendly. The former CBS News president details how John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy were especially enthusiastic users of the Fairness Doctrine to suppress political criticism of their policies from religious conservatives.

Considering that Iowa's own Nicholas Johnson was the FCC Commish during part of the Johnson and Nixon years, I'd be interested in reading his current opinion on a possible revival of the Unfairness Doctrine.

My own opinion is that times have changed too much from those days. Look at other forms of communication and expression:

• Newspapers are mostly run by the lefties whose reporters mostly contribute to Democrat politicians. It's a dying industry, even though most papers have monopoly control over their region of readership. And any center or right-leaning person who wants to buy a newspaper company is met with suspicion and sneers by the Left.
  
  
• TV is still run by a handful of mega companies who have thankfully diversified their programming on cable and satellite systems so things like gay-themed shows appear without the blink of an eye by any Moral Majority types. Isn't that a good thing? I think so. Network news, however, is still run by Lefties and continues to suffer from a diminishing audience and obvious bias.
  
  
• College professors are a notoriously liberal lot these days. Despite ridiculous calls by Lefties for a more diverse faculty and student body, they're never talking about political opinion diversity. A few righties carp and complain every now and then or ferret out the occasional kooks like Ward Churchill, but no movement in Congress is demanding that a Fairness Doctrine of political diversity is imposed upon higher education establishments.
  
  
• As far as the internet is concerned, politicians know they can't do anything about suppressing free speech. About the only thing they can do is try to tax it. I will say, if anything has made the world an equal playing field in the realm of political opinion it's blogs and message boards. You've got your Kossacks on the Left and you've got your Freepers on the Right and a lot of people inbetween.
  

I don't understand the need to regulate radio any more, except that some Democrats have a real fetish for complete control.

It's like Dianne Feinstein, Hitlery Clinton, Barbara Bouncer, and Dennis Kookcinich are all dressed up in bondage outfits, armed with whips, and ready to show Rush Limbaugh and the gang who the REAL boss of the airwaves is.

That's lame, of course. The natural answer is: if Lefties are so pissed off, why don't they start their own network and field their own hosts? Oh, yeah, been there and done that. Didn't work.

Are You Now Or Have You Ever Shopped At A Wal-Mart?

Via a reader, who saw a TV ad for this today and emailed me:

Today, WakeUpWalMart.com, America's campaign to change Wal-Mart, released its first animated TV-ad exposing how Wal-Mart's close relationship with China hurts America. The ad comes on the heels of a newly published report which, for the first time, estimates how many American jobs have been lost because Wal-Mart is the #1 importer of Chinese goods.

In today's report, entitled "The Wal-Mart Effect," the prestigious Economic Policy Institute estimates America has lost nearly 200,000 jobs due to Wal-Mart's trade with China alone. In addition, the report estimates that every new Wal-Mart store costs America approximately 77 good-paying, middle class jobs.

WakeUpWalMart.com's new animated TV-ad, entitled "Lesson #1," begins airing this Wednesday, June 27th and is part of a new July 4th media campaign calling on Americans to think about what happens to our economy and American jobs when we shop at Wal-Mart and to "be a patriot" this July 4th. The new ad starts with an image of a chalkboard and the announcer stating, "this is Wal- Mart," as Wal-Mart is drawn, and "this is China," as China is drawn. Then, just as a teacher would draw with chalk on the chalkboard, the ad goes on to show how "most of the goods on Wal-Mart's shelves come from China ... So when you shop at Wal-Mart ... your money, and a lot of American jobs, go to China."

The most powerful part of the animated spot is when, using a drawing of China and Afghanistan, the ad calls into question why Wal-Mart would do business with China when it was just revealed that China is selling arms to the terrorists in Afghanistan. As the ad states, "China ships weapons to the terrorists in Afghanistan ... Weapons the terrorists use to attack our troops." Given Wal-Mart's cozy relationship with China and, separately, China's support of terrorists, the ad ends with the stirring line, "So before you shop at Wal-Mart think about that. This July 4th ... .Be a patriot ... Go to WakeUpWalMart.com and learn the truth about what Wal-Mart is doing."

You Republicans. You country music-loving, moon pie-eating Republicans... don't you know that shopping at Wal-Mart is UnAmerican?

The truth is that you can go into any big box or medium box retailer and buy lots of products that are made in China. Target, for example, uses many of the same suppliers as Wal-Mart does, but the products have a different brand name on it.

It's the same with many things you can buy at Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's, Sears, Kmart, Kohl's, Dillard's, and so on.

At one time, Democrats loved Wal-Mart. Tom Vilsack, over the past 20 years, was instrumental in getting the Avenue Of The Saints interstate between St Louis and St Paul/Minneapolis built just so the Wal-Mart distribution center in his wife's hometown of Mount Pleasant could expand and grow. And Hitlery never wants to talk about her time on the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart, a company based in Arkansas, or her ownership of company stock. Even Mrs Barack Obama resigned some board seat of a company that made something like pickles that were distributed through Wal-Mart. Too sour, I guess.

Then there's John Edwards, the big flaming hypocrite who tried to demonstrate why there's Two Americas by getting a staff member to try to step ahead of all the little people by attempting to procure a Sony Playstation 3 for his little brat at Wal-Mart, a company which Edwards has repeatedly vilified by his appearances at numerous WakeUpWalMart rallies.

And don't forget all the Iowa Democrats who drink the anti-Wal-Mart purple Kool Aid, yet can't manage to come up with a plan to help reduce the cost of health care for people except by raising everybody's taxes and imposing a Communist-style, government-run health scare plan.

Chuck Grassley And Barack Obama Want Illegals Working With Fake Social Security Numbers

From Townhall.com yesterday:

Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) is sponsoring an amendment to the Senate’s immigration bill to strip language that would require employers to verify the social security numbers of their workers unless there is “suspicion of unlawful employment.”

The third year senator, hoping to secure his party’s nomination for President, believes requiring employers to verify legal status is an “unnecessary” hurdle. Senators Max Baucus (D.-Mont.) and Chuck Grassley (R.-Iowa) are co-sponsoring the amendment.

Under the system already in place, the Social Security Administration has the ability to flag suspicious Social Security numbers that are filed on W-2 tax forms, which is why Obama believes employers should not be forced to verify their workers’ social security numbers.

The Senate’s bill, as it is currently written, would require employers to verify the legal status of their employees within three years.

The amendment made it. This is from the Houston Chronicle today:

The Senate voted Tuesday to jump-start a stalled immigration measure to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants.

President Bush said the bill offered a "historic opportunity for Congress to act," and appeared optimistic about its passage by week's end.

The pivotal test-vote was 64-35 to revive the divisive legislation. It still faces formidable obstacles in the Senate, including bitter opposition by GOP conservatives and attempts by some waverers in both parties to revise its key elements...

...Particularly worrisome to supporters, including the Bush administration, is a bipartisan amendment by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., that would change the bill's new program for weeding out illegal employees from U.S. workplaces.

Funny thing how that last paragraph was written. In the Chronicle article, there's no further explanation as to what the Obama-Grassley-Baucus amendment is about. Is that not typical of the lazy-ASSociated Press?

Even though Grassley voted against cloture today, that doesn't really mean anything. Further debate is cut off and we'll probably see a vote soon. I'm kind of glad cloture was invoked, because then we can find out who the real traitors are.

I still believe that Chuck Grassley is going to vote for amnesty again. I predicted this last month, even though Grassley continues to deny it.

After all, Grassley was caving to some of the stupider aspects of the Shamnesty bill last September.

And this Obama-Grassley-Baucus amendment is such a scam. It's another way to let Iowa's Big Polluter and other illegal-hiring companies off the hook for their crooked behavior and the driving down of wages in the US.

I've always said that big companies who (knowingly or turn-their-head-and-cough) hire illegals should be fined so heavily ($100,000 or more per violation) that doing so would completely discourage such behavior in the future. But you Iowans need to ask yourselves why Republicans like Chuck Grassley are helping the Big Polluters do their dirty work.

The Project Destiny Scam

Nicholas Johnson has a couple of recent columns ("Conflicts, Cover-ups and Corruption" and '"Greed is Good" - Poverty? "Yes, It's Your Destiny"') on the Project Destiny tax increase vote that's coming up in Des Moines.

The latest scam by Project Destiny is their use of an 82 year old apartment dweller in Urbandale to promote the Yes vote. The story is in the Des Moines Register, which I refuse to link to any more due to their continued exploitation of and fetish for dead soldiers, but you can find it via Johnson's post today.

If you want to know the names of the scumbags behind the push for the Project Destiny tax increase scam, look no further than this web page at the Greater Des Moines Partnershit. You'll see all the usual suspects, grifters, corporate welfare addicts, crooks, insiders, inbreds, old farts, and shysters.

Bottom line is: Every one of these bastards involved with the Greater Des Moines Partnershit are stinking rich. They're the Mr Potters of the region.

I predicted back in December that this would go down to defeat, 80% against and 20% for. I can't wait to see what happens. It wouldn't surprise me if the final tally is even worse for supporters.

The Newton Parking Lot

From the Newton Daily News:

Newton is not well-known for its traffic jams, but the Iowa Corn Indy 250 produced one Sunday, and not just on the 7/8-mile oval.

More than 38,000 race fans trying to find a place to park descended on the Iowa Speedway early Sunday morning, creating some slow traffic on Interstate 80 in both the eastbound and westbound lanes...

...Fans coming in on the Reasnor road off Highway 14 were not so lucky. Traffic there was backed up for hours, and delays of two hours or more were not uncommon. The situation was made worse by the recent rains, making the grassy parking lots too muddy for parking.

I think the real story is in the comments:

"The guy who thought it went as well as could be expected wasn't on Reasoner road for 2 1/2 hours holding $225 worth of tickets. I saw half the race. Maybe, if everyone expected delays, ask the media to alert the paying customers. Maybe, when they designed and built the track, they could have planned traffic flow for track capacity. Maybe, if they didn't have parking for 40,000 they shouldn't have sold 40,000 tickets. If the track did everything it could, then it can't do enough and doesn't want me to come back. I'll tell the people I saw from Kansas City who were enraged that "the track did everything it can." I'm sure that will satisfy them."

And:

"Have Mr. Mannatt pave it ALL. They have the equipment and resources. You have a multi-million dollar asphault facility and a dirt parking lot. WOW. Great job on the logistical planning of getting the fans too the track and in the seats for the start. NOT. I missed everything and sat on t-14 for 3 hours. I got stopped in traffic at 9:30. Needless to say I won't be buying season tickets or renewing my newton club membership for 2008. Good luck getting Nextel here with the current logistics and inadequate track access."

Run, Al, Run!

From the Waterloo Courier:

Yoo-hoo! Mr. Gore --- some grassroots supporters are ramping up their efforts to encourage you to run for president in 2008.

The Draft Gore Committee launched its first radio ad on Monday in Iowa. The 30-second ad, dubbed "You Who," will go national in July. It features a chorus of voices seeking Gore's attention and urging him to seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

The political action committee, which claims to have gathered 94,000 signatures on an online petition, is not officially affiliated with the former vice president. He has repeatedly said he has no plans seek the nomination, though he hasn't ruled out a bid...

...The radio ad, being run on WHO-AM in Des Moines, included such pleas as "Mr. Gore we need you for president" and "We deserve a president we can respect."

"Al Gore: Right on Iraq, right on global warming, right for the 21st Century," the ad says.

Al Gore was right on Iraq back in 1992:

Rod Beck Died

By Scott Ostler at SFGate.com:

Everything you need to know about Rod "Shooter'' Beck you learned from the bush leagues.

Like: Put your money back in your pocket, dude, Shooter's buying.

Some guys will buy a round for their buddies, or maybe for the house. Beck would buy rounds for Des Moines.

Beck, 38, was found dead Saturday, and one of the memories stirred by the tragic news was from the spring of '03 and Beck was toast as a pitcher, trying to revive his career after elbow surgery. The Cubs gave him a shot, assigning him to their Triple-A club in Des Moines, Iowa. Beck was angry, embarrassed and discouraged as he drove his motor home to his minor-league assignment.

"At least three times I almost turned that sucker (motor home) around and said (forget) it," Beck said later that year.

He drove the motor home because to check into a hotel would have been to concede that he actually was in the minors. He wouldn't even rent a space at an RV park. He parked his rig behind the center-field fence, a getaway car with the motor figuratively running.

But even a bummed-out Shooter was still Shooter. When his teammates were pooling their money for a postgame pizza, Beck invited everyone to his RV. From then on, Beck's bus was the postgame party, for players and fans, every night. Beck would light the little neon cocktail light in his window and haul out tubs of iced beer.

"Those guys (his teammates) talk about what I gave them," Beck said later that season. "What they don't realize is what they gave to me. They're making $1,500, trying to pay rent and afford a beer after the game, and their enthusiasm gave me a new vigor for the game. I started to enjoy it again."

The once-fearsome fireballer pitched his way back to the big leagues with the Padres that year and saved 20 games with a fastball that wouldn't break a pitcher of beer.

Beck was a favorite of writers, not just because he was a great quote and willing talker, but because he treated non-players as actual people. He was the writers' go-to guy, the man you could count on to explain even the toughest of losses. Except for one night, when Beck blew a huge save and, shaken and distraught, waved away the writers.

The next day before the game Beck called the writers to his locker and apologized. Superstar apologizing to writers: In baseball, this occurs as often as a quadruple play.

On the mound, at the peak of his game, Beck was pure badass. He didn't just walk into a game, he kicked down the door. It was great theater, but no act.

He said the only reason he decided to go to Des Moines in '03 was that his two daughters, then aged 10 and 9, had never really seen Daddy pitch

Kayla, then 10, watched Shooter's first performance in Des Moines, as he came out of the bullpen like a rodeo bull out of the chute, got the right arm rocking and mowed down the opposition.

"Cool!" Kayla said.

No word yet on how Beck died.

Not Unlike Heroin

From WHO-TV:

Waterloo city officials want to relax restrictions on using gambling money from a new casino.

Mayor Tim Hurley is asking the City Council and Black Hawk County Gaming Association to amend a 2003 agreement.

The change would let Waterloo use some gambling proceeds from the Isle Casino and Hotel for daily operating expenses -- and not just 1-time equipment purchases and other capital projects.

If a local government is going to get addicted to something, like gambling money, you better make sure it becomes dependent upon it.

Maybe they'll use some of the dough in order to subsidize the rich people of Waterloo's desire to save $6 a month on their cable TV bill.

If You Build It, Mr Ashley Judd Will Come And Win

From the Waterloo Courier:

The comparisons to the Field of Dreams were inevitable.

Much like Ray Kinsella plowed under his corn field near Dyersville to build a baseball diamond in the film of the same name, a group of investors turned a plot of farmland near Newton into a shiny, new, 7/8-mile race track.

Their dream? Bring big-time auto racing to Iowa.

While a private company ended up backing the project (with some help by major corporate welfare recipients Wells Fargo), it was former Governor Tom Vilsack's $12.5 million sales tax gimmeaway that also helped.

As it turned out, the nationally-televised race on ABC was won by recent rain-shortened Indy 500 winner, Mr Ashley Judd:

Dario Franchitti hung around the lead as car after car ran into trouble on the Iowa Speedway's new short oval. He made a daring move to grab the top spot as soon as he saw an opening, then kept it by using his head.

Franchitti, the IndyCar Series points leader, survived a slippery track and a furious late charge from teammate Marco Andretti to win the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 yesterday.

Franchitti, whose other victory this year was the Indianapolis 500, held the cherished bottom line on the final laps to win by 0.0681 seconds.

I watched some of the event on TV. It was sort of like watching Hot Wheels go around a track, except more boring.

McCain's Staff Go Crazy

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Prominent Mormon supporters of Sen. John McCain's presidential bid were outraged at a campaign worker's attempt to link the LDS Church to terrorists.

Chad Workman, the Warren County, Iowa, chairman of McCain's campaign, addressed a gathering of Republican activists in April and questioned whether Mormons were Christians. But he went much further, discussing an article alleging the LDS Church helps fund Hamas, and associating the treatment of Mormon women with the Taliban, according to a report in Thursday's Boston Globe.

It wasn't all that long ago that McCain was in second place in Iowa at 17.3% support. Now he's dropped down to 6% and is fading fast.

At this rate, it won't be long before some McCain flunky starts suggesting that Fred Thompson might have banged Sam Waterston or Bruce Willis in the ass.

Guantanamo Poetry Contest

In followup to yesterday's post ("Here I Sit, Broken Hearted, Tried To Kill, But Only Farted") comes this from a longtime reader:

You know what's happening here, don't you? Those Gitmo detainees are just "writing the poetry that American's won't write".

Now THAT'S brilliant!

What's not brilliant is some of the poetry. This is from the University of Iowa Press's page on the terrorist-supporting book and example of some of the poetry:

death poem by Jumah al Dossari

Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.

Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.

And let them bear the guilty burden before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the “protectors of peace.”

Jumah al Dossari is a thirty-three-year-old Bahraini who has been held at Guantánamo Bay for more than five years. He has been in solitary confinement since the end of 2003 and, according to the U.S. military, has tried to kill himself twelve times while in custody.

What a loser. He tried to kill himself 12 times and failed. That's the definition of a loser.

My favorite "death poem" ever was by Tyrone Green (Eddie Murphy) in a Saturday Night Live episode way too many years ago:

"Images by Tyrone Greene"

Dark and lonely on a summer's night.
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Watchdog barking. Do he bite?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Slip in his window. Break his neck.
Then his house I start to wreck.
Got no reason. What the heck?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
C-I-L-L my land lord!

Daily Idiots To Iowa Taxpayers: Bend Over And Take It

From the Daily Idiot Editorial Board:

Tuesday's announcement that Google has decided to build a data center in Council Bluffs means a financial boom is imminent in an area of Iowa that needs it badly. The project will create 200 jobs, with nearly all hirings to be local, with an average salary of $50,000 each. Aside from the jobs the project will bring to the area, Google also plans on using local vendors and suppliers, and it will pay the state an estimated $65 million in property taxes over the next 15 years.

State legislation passed last session exempts electricity and capital-investment requirements from sales tax for technology-related businesses. Certainly, this helped lure Google, and it could do the same for other companies in the future. When taking into consideration the massive financial impact Google's decision will have on the area's economy, in both Iowa and Nebraska, small considerations such as these exemptions are surely worth it. Financially, these concessions will be recouped fairly quickly, but the real effect could be seen if the legislative "bait" is taken by the corporate "fish" and Iowa can begin to reel in the technology-based companies and corporations that want to set down roots in the state, helping to combat Iowa's brain drain issue.

Some out there are actually upset, convinced that Google bringing jobs and money to Iowa is a bad thing. Their argument is that given how profitable a company such as Google is, it shouldn't be getting any tax cuts as incentives. The naysayers explain that when this tax legislation passed, it was an example of state politicians forcing those who put them into office to foot the bill, dishing the portion of property tax gone unpaid by Google onto unsuspecting Iowans. Inviting a multibillion dollar company to the state and reaping a relatively small portion of the profits to be had is a legitimate concern, but as Iowans, we should enjoy the piece of pie already being served onto our plates, not complain that we can't have the other seven pieces sitting on the counter.

What a completely stupid and asinine editorial.

Let's turn the tables a bit.

Say somebody figured out a way to discover oil in Iowa (there's not really any oil in Iowa, only 500 gallons have been pumped out over the past century). Big Oil would be interested in exploration, wouldn't they? Why, that would mean J-O-B-S, wouldn't it? Now you can bet that Big Oil would be lobbying the Iowa Legislature for every tax break under the sun, but with record profits being reported in the news and vilified by certain Democrats, they might have to put up a fight in order to get any breaks. Why? Because they're in a very profitable business. That's not to say that only break-even or unprofitable companies should get breaks. Far from it. It's just that any time some company wants to relocate or expand, they go and grease the local politicians in order to escape from paying what every other business already in Iowa has to pay. It's sickening. And unfair.

So for the lapdog, suck up, hypocritical, brown-nosing, twisted, financially ignorant douchebags involved with the media in Iowa to come out and say that Iowa taxpayers should just Bend Over And Take It In The Property Tax and give Google (GOOG) a break because, well, it's better than nothing, you can see just how bankrupt these anointed assholes in the media have become.

I pose this question to the dickhead spinmeisters in newspaper rooms and TV stations: What's Fair? Is it fair that everybody who decides to stick around the state has to pay all the taxes, but any rich companies that want to locate in Iowa or those politically-connected can get out of paying their fair share?

Where do you get off preaching to the general public about what's fair?

You people have blinders on.

Good luck with your dying industry. No wonder fewer and fewer people are subscribing to newspapers or watching the evening snooze. All you robo-douches know how to do is report any dead in Iraq, the latest Paris Hilton bullshit, and now Connie with the weather and Pete Taylor with Sports, or whoever it is these days. What a bunch of retards.

Tom Harkin Will Vote For Jim 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.

From Radio Iowa:

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, says he expects former Iowa Republican Congressman Jim Nussle to be a big part of what could be a tough budget fight between the Democrats and the President. Nussle has been nominated by President Bush to take over the Office of Management and Budget.

Harkin says Nussle was the head of the budget committee while in the House and "was a good lieutenant for Bush during those years, and I assume the Bush people wanted someone that reflected their values and their opinions and that kind of stuff." Harkin says Nussle "knows this budget stuff very well."

Harkin says he wants to wait for Nussle's Senate confirmation hearing, but believes he'd vote for Nussle. Harkin says, "Barring any unforeseen disclosures, or something like that, I probably would vote to confirm him." Harkin says he's always gotten along fine with Nussle even though they have different political views.

The smartest thing any Democrat could do right now is to get out of the way of the runaway train known as the Bush Administration.

Oh, it's tempting to be partisan and to appeal to the nutroots base by acting all macho and tough against the lame duck's choices. But when you're offered up the chance to have Jim Ross Nussle, the House's worst Budget Committee Chairman EVER, a lover of any stupid and worthless pork earmarks, and one of the biggest fauxscal conservatives ever, as the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, well what choice does Tom Harkin possibly have? Turn all the stoplights to Green, break out a police escort, and let the lameass Republican motorcade of Washington limos pass right on through!

Heck, if I were Tom Harkin, who is an unabashed supporter of earmarks as Mr Nussle, I'd offer to chauffeur the swanky, out of touch, gas-guzzling, and well-armored limo that Nussle was using in DC right up to the new office.

The $450,000 Bubble

From KCCI-TV:

The Iowa Board of Regents announced Thursday afternoon that a Purdue University Provost Sally "Tiny Bubbles" Mason, 57, will become the University of Iowa's next president.

In the last month, regents have narrowed the pool to four finalists to replace David Skorton, who left last year for Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

The appointment takes effect Aug. 1. Her salary was set at $450,000.

Why, it wasn't even two years ago when the Board of Regents were giving David Skorton a 3% raise, prompting this blog to wonder how he was ever going to manage on $302,047 a year.

Like penis size, it seems that certain people are obsessed with how much a university president earns in comparison to other schools. This has to stop.

There were over 150 serious applicants for the position at one time. It's not like Earl J. Hickey suddenly decided to apply on a lark and was counted amongst the 150. I'm sure the Board Of Regents could find somebody well-qualified for $300,000 a year until they move along to another Ivy League skool. Maybe?


Related: Sally "Tiny Bubbles" Mason To Become The Next UI President Who Will Eventually Leave

Here I Sit, Broken Hearted, Tried To Kill, But Only Farted

From the Chronicle Journal in Canada:

The story behind a book of poetry written by Guantanamo detainees could be as compelling as the poems themselves.

Prisoners, denied pens and paper, wrote some of the poems by scratching verses onto foam cups with pebbles. Other poems were translated into English by linguists with security clearances but no literary credentials.

"It was a long and draining project," said Marc Falkoff, a law professor who represents 18 detainees.

The University of Iowa Press will release "Poems From Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak" on Aug. 15. The volume, featuring 22 poems by 17 detainees, will be only the second English-language book written by Guantanamo prisoners.

The compilation emanated from letters written by prisoners to Falkoff, a law professor at Northern Illinois University who represents one Pakistani and 17 Yemeni detainees. Last year, he received a letter written in verse, prompting him to check with other lawyers and discover that many Guantanamo prisoners were writing poetry.

Falkoff, a former literature professor, hoped that publishing the poetry would provide a fuller understanding of the inmates. But first the work had to endure a gauntlet of government censors, who wouldn’t release much of the work.

Attorneys initially sent poems written in their original Arabic and Pashtu to a centre near Washington, D.C., where translators with security clearances produced English versions. Government officials then determined whether the poems could be released, in either their original or translated versions.

The Pentagon reviews all documents sent between attorneys and detainees to decide whether to classify the information because of concerns that prisoners will send hidden messages, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Defence Department spokesman. There also were concerns that poems could reveal private details about Guantanamo, such as interrogation tactics or camp routines.

About a dozen lawyers submitted more than 40 prisoner poems. Officials cleared roughly 30 of them but most only in English. Some of the approved poems were held from the book at the request of prisoners, often out of fear it would hurt their cases, Falkoff said.

Some poems in the book have been reworked by detainees who’ve since been released or by language experts who revised translations if the original Arabic or Pashtu were available.

I'm sorry, but What The ???????

Where do I begin?

First off, if Tom Harkin and Dianne Feinstein get their way then this source of poetry will be closed forever. It's bad enough that Congress has de-funded the arts over the years. How will future editions be published if the detainees are not kept in one location to allow their muse to prosper? I think there are a lot of unanswered questions here.

Secondly, who is paying the bill for all these lawyers to submit poetry to the Pentagon to review? Is this coming out of the detainee/poets's royalties and how so? Are the lawyers acting as both legal representation and agent? I smell a conflict of interest bordering on torture. Somebody needs to file an amicus curiae to get this resolved.

Finally, why is a University of Iowa-affiliated book publisher resorting to making money off of prison labor and the byproducts of what some consider to be an illegal, government-funded war initiative? Are colleges and universities not cranking out enough quality poetry majors to satisfy the demands of the marketplace? It's bad enough that half the books published today are printed in China, but now poetry is being outsourced to a prison in Cuba. For shame!

Sally "Tiny Bubbles" Mason To Become The Next UI President Who Will Eventually Leave

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Purdue University Provost Sally Mason will be named the 20th president at the University of Iowa during an Iowa state Board of Regents meeting in Iowa City today, according to a source close to UI...

...Mason, 57, is a biologist who has been at Purdue since 2001, serving as the second-in-command to former Iowa State University President and outgoing Purdue President Martin Jischke. Before that, she spent 21 years at the University of Kansas, including the last six as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Naturally, because Mason is a woman, she'll likely earn 80 cents for every dollar David Skorton earned.

Right?

Ha ha, just kidding.

Well, at least they didn't hire a cunt like ISU did last year.

Mason does have some considerable baggage.

While the provost at Purdue, she did the following (via Nature, the International Weekly Journal Of Science):

An inquiry has exonerated nuclear engineer Rusi Taleyarkhan of misconduct with respect to allegations made internally at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, officials announced last week. But the announcement may raise more questions than it answers: researchers in the field have criticized the university for failing to say whether the inquiry considered their concerns that the work may be fraudulent.

Taleyarkhan claims to be able to produce fusion by collapsing bubbles in deuterated liquids. His work promised to improve prospects for developing a clean source of energy, but independent scientists have not been able to replicate the result. The work had been subject to several internal allegations of misconduct, including the fact that Taleyarkhan cited a paper by his student and postdoc as "independent" confirmation of his findings.

Purdue announced on 7 February that "the committee determined that the evidence does not support the allegations of research misconduct and that no further investigation of the allegations is warranted". It has refused to specify the content of the allegations that it considered, except to say that they were "internal".

Institutional proceedings involving Taleyarkhan began in March 2006, after concerns about his work were reported by Nature3. Purdue's provost, Sally Mason, responded by saying that the university would undertake an objective review. In June 2006, the university said that the review was complete, but declined to make its findings public. Last week's announcement referred to the findings of a second internal inquiry subsequently appointed by Purdue's dean of engineering, Leah Jamieson.

Taleyarkhan has told several news outlets that he feels "vindicated". But critics have questioned the validity of Purdue's proceedings, and in particular, the apparent decision to limit its inquiry to internal allegations, yet possibly ignoring the concerns, including fraud, communicated by external researchers in the field.

"They apparently narrowly focused the charge and avoided the question of whether the research was doctored," says Ken Suslick, a chemist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has been attempting to replicate Taleyarkhan's claims. Suslick is one of several researchers worried that Taleyarkhan's work may be fraudulent, and he wrote to Purdue about his concerns in June 2006. These include the apparent duplication of data between reports of supposedly independent experiments (first raised by Nature), and a report that the spectrum of neutrons that Taleyarkhan claims to have detected from bubble fusion exactly matches that of a standard radioactive source called californium. Taleyarkhan has since replied that when he measures neutrons emitted by californium in his lab, he finds something quite unlike what he sees from his fusion experiments. But a recent preprint points out that Taleyarkhan omitted some of the original spectral data in his reply, and that the full data set still looks like californium.

The university never responded to Suslick's concerns...

...Lefteri Tsoukalas, who asked Purdue to investigate Taleyarkhan in February 2006, has called the announcement "an outrage". Tsoukalas was head of Purdue's nuclear-engineering school until he resigned in October 2006 in protest at the way the university was handling the concerns. He notes that the usual procedure for handling allegations of scientific misconduct is to hold a preliminary inquiry, then either proceed with an investigation or close the matter. That did not happen in this case; instead, the university ran a second preliminary inquiry. Apart from Tsoukalas, calls by Nature have failed to locate anyone who raised concerns about Taleyarkhan's work who was interviewed during either inquiry. "Purdue's finding is as mysterious as bubble fusion itself," says Tsoukalas...

...Purdue's announcement appeared on the same day as Suslick, Putterman and others reported their attempt to replicate Taleyarkhan's claims in an experiment built to his specifications. They did not find any evidence that fusion was occurring.

Sally Mason is obviously Regents head Michael Gartner's pick. They're sort of like peas in a pod:

Michael Gartner, the beleaguered president of NBC News, has fallen on his sword because of the faked crash of a General Motors truck on "Dateline NBC." While Gartner's bosses did not hold him personally responsible for the story about the crash, the network did hire two outside lawyers to investigate the behavior of NBC News and consider the question of account-ability, including what action Gartner took, or didn't take, after the specious report was broadcast. A key decision-maker at NBC says that it was "outrageous" for Gartner to stonewall G.M. and to defend his own news staff even after he learned that someone had hidden miniature rockets on the truck and detonated them just before the collision. Even before Gartner resigned, on March 2nd, he was about to be fired. "He knew about this incident for several days," this man said. "He didn't investigate it in depth. He should have looked into it more, because he was aware that he was being sued before he issued a statement defending News." Then, the last week in February, questions were raised about another report broadcast by NBC News, this one on the effects of logging in Idaho's Clearwater National Forest, and that situation made it even more difficult for Gartner to stay...

...NBC News hired an outside firm--not an unusual practice--to do the testing of the G.M. trucks involved in the "Dateline" report, but gave the firm a limited budget to work with. A person close to the internal investigations admits, "The demonstration was quite cheap." NBC may have saved money, but it also surrendered quality

And where's this person with "sufficient health-care experience" that the Regents were looking for last year? Sally "Tiny Bubbles" Mason been a biologist, Provost at Purdue, and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Kansas. Unless she's a regular viewer of General Hospital or Grey's Anatomy, I don't see much in the way of sufficient health-care experience lately.

Now, for your entertainment for today's coronation, here's The Ho doing the Sally Mason theme song:

We Are The Ones Who Make A Brighter Day So Let's Start Giving

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.

From the South Africa Mail & Guardian:

A top senator is proposing a modest step to improve the efficiency of food aid donations from the United States, the world's biggest provider of food aid, but the plan falls short of the Bush administration's vision for reform.

Senator Tom Harkin, chairperson of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has put forward a plan that would spend $100-million over four years on pilot projects to vet aid donations that use crops purchased in developing countries, rather than US commodities that can take months to reach beneficiaries...

...The Agriculture Department and the US Agency for International Development, which manages emergency food aid, are pressing Congress to free up to a quarter of emergency food aid funding, up to $300-million a year, from a requirement that US crops be used. Instead, it would allow those funds to buy crops closer to famine areas, either in those very countries suffering from famine or from countries close by.

Advocates believe that is one change that could turn around US food aid's record of sluggish and inefficient delivery. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office said millions of people were going unfed due chiefly to stringent purchase and transport rules that often benefit US farmers and shipping companies.

Food aid accounts for only a tiny share of US farm sales and spending. Nevertheless, Harkin's plan could encounter staunch opposition from farm groups who say US tax dollars should buy American crops, not foreign-grown goods.

So Tom Harkin is saying that we should use US taxpayer dollars to buy crops in other countries in order to give that food to people in yet another country that is experiencing natural disasters, drought, famine, violent conflict or other emergencies.

WTF kind of Politburo, central-planning committee, Socialist/Communist bullshit is this?

Iowa needs to take a BIG political shit. And in that shit should be both of the state's senators because they both suck.

Tom Vilsack Is Now A Lobbyist For The NEA

From WOI-TV:

Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack will lobby the federal government on behalf of the nation's largest teachers union.

The National Education Association recently hired Vilsack to lobby on the No Child Left Behind Act.

The NEA, which has more than three million members, has been a fierce critic of the law. No Child Left Behind establishes and measures reading and math standards for all students and imposes stricter qualifications on teachers. Schools face sanctions if they don't make progress.

Last year, the teachers union adopted a plan -- including calls for more money -- to lobby Congress to reform the act.

Vilsack registered as an independent lobbyist in April with the NEA as a client.

He's obviously hoping to become the head of the Department Of Education in a Hitlery administration.

Chuck Grassley Wants To Raise The Price Of Gas

Via the Seattle Times, from the AP:

A proposal to hit oil companies with $29 billion in new taxes advanced in the Senate on Tuesday, targeting the money to energy conservation, wind turbines, electric hybrid cars and clean coal technology.

The massive tax package, double what Democrats had discussed as recently as last week, is "designed to promote clean and sustainable energy," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee that approved the measure by a 15-5 vote.

It is expected later this week to be added to energy legislation being considered by the full Senate.

Senators acknowledged that oil companies would howl over the new taxes.

But Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Finance Committee's top Republican, said, "We have entered a new era in energy markets ... (that) requires a dramatic shift away from tax incentives for oil and gas production" and toward support for other energy sources and efficiency.

Gee, if you raise taxes on oil and gas industries, the costs will be passed along to consumers. Won't they? Yes, they will.

Chuck Grassley might as well get in front of the cameras, turn around, drop his pants, spread his ass cheeks, and say "Kiss My Sphincter, Taxpayers!!!"

Dear god, how long does Iowa have to put up with this fiscal phony, this fauxscal conservative.

Switcheroo

Cyclone Conservative, on visiting a John Edwards rally in Le Mars, Iowa recently:

They played some really bad country music. So bad, that it reminded me of a Republican event

That's funny.

Likewise, lefty John Deeth went to a Mitt Romney event in Muscatine. Best observance in the aftermath:

Part of the pitch, though not said in these words, was "we need a CEO president." Wasn't that what Bush was supposed to be?

Bush seems to be ending up like the pointy-haired boss:

Google Is Feeling Lucky By Not Having To Pay Their Fair Share Of Taxes In Iowa

From RTT News:

Google Inc. (GOOG) said it would build a $600 million data center in western Iowa to provide infrastructure to power a variety of Web services.

The company said it has already started construction on a 55-acre site in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb. The data center, also generally known as server farm, is expected to create about 200 jobs with an average salary of about $50 thousand...

...To attract Google, Iowa lawmakers last session passed a bill that would exempt electricity and capital investment requirements from sales tax for computer-related businesses.

Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, who helped push the measure through the Legislature, said it was exciting to see Iowa attract a cutting-edge company that could bring similar businesses to the state.

Google will get a property tax break through 2024

In the first quarter of 2007, Google earned a billion dollars in profit on revenues of $3.66 billion. Revenue was up 50% over the previous year and profit was 69% more than the year before.

I think it's obscene that any company as wildly profitable as Google gets any tax breaks, much less one that's pushed through the Iowa Legislature by a bunch of crooked politicians.

Yes, the measure passed 95-1 in the Iowa Legislature. That's how crooked it has become. They're like a bunch of drug addicts looking for fix. "Re-elect MEEEEEEEE because your property taxes went up due to the fact that Google doesn't pay any so they can have a data center in Council Bluffs that pays barely above the family medium wage in the entire state....."

And you can see how the media spins the news:

...expected to create about 200 jobs with an average salary of about $50 thousand...

...Google will get a property tax break through 2024, but will end up paying about $65 million in property taxes over the next 15 years. Google also will pay an estimated $6 million in sales taxes over the next couple of years as it purchases building materials, and will spend hundreds of thousands on electricity franchise fees.

Spin, spin, spin, spin.......

Now if Google was one of those evil oil companies involved with earning windfall profits, would a crooked politician like Bill Dotzler be so kind?

Iowa Is Not Typical Of The Nation Because It Contains Intelligent White People

Michael Barone:

All these moves are threats to the rule that Iowa and New Hampshire vote first. In fact, the process was begun by the Democratic National Committee, which has authorized a Nevada caucus and a South Carolina primary just after the Iowa and New Hampshire contests. Now others are joining in the attacks.

And a good thing, too, is my gut reaction. I have thumbed through my copy of the Constitution many times to find the part that says Iowa and New Hampshire come first, and I have yet to find it. And in fact they have not always come first. Both have been around for about a century. But in their modern form, New Hampshire first listed candidates on its ballot in 1952, and Iowa held the first of its first-in-the-nation caucuses in 1972. Ever since, these two states have lobbied – browbeaten, actually – presidential candidates to pledge to maintain their monopoly. For more than a quarter century, the blackmail has worked. But it's not clear that it's going to work anymore.

The case for Iowa and New Hampshire goes along these lines. They are small states with small electorates – 250,000 caucusgoers in Iowa (out of a population of 3 million) and 450,000 primary voters in New Hampshire (out of a population of 1.3 million) – who are used to evaluating candidates firsthand. They are thus venues for retail politics, which is impossible in large states.

The case against them is that they are scarcely typical of the nation (they're 93 percent and 95 percent white, for example) and may not produce the best national candidates. They are overly influenced by locally important issues. For instance, you don't want to run in Iowa if you've voted against ethanol subsidies. And woe to you in New Hampshire if you voted to shut down the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Iowa is unusually dovish, as are New Hampshire Democrats. New Hampshire Republicans are unusually averse to tax increases.

Yeah, but it does smoke out the brown-nosers and ass-kissers, don't you think?

Er, and what does Barone, whose writings I respect quite a bit, think is a good state that's typical of the nation?

This blog has said for a long time that a Southern state ought to be factored in. But then this blog also wants the campaign season whittled down from 24/7 to two weeks.

Fauxscal Conservative Jim Nussle To Become The Next White House Budget Director

From Radio Iowa:

Former Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle is likely leaving the Giuliani campaign team. The White House announced this morning that Nussle would become the White House Budget Director.

Why doesn't President Bush just hire a monkey to be the next Budget Director? Or a dead guy, like former OMB head Cap Weinberger. I think the dead guy or even a monkey would be preferable to a fauxscal conservative like Jim Nussle.

Jim Nussle loved earmarks when he was the chairman of the House Budget Committee. How much did Nussle love earmarks? Nussle couldn't vote against any of Congressman Jeff Flake's 19 anti-pork amendments last summer.

And don't forget that Jim Nussle thinks it's raining money in Washington, like wasting $50 million to build a rainforest in Iowa:

The Drinking Age Should Be 61

While I was on vacation, somebody sent me this from the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett was arrested for drunken driving Sunday night, the second time he has been arrested for the offense in six years.

Online court records show the 2001 charge of driving under the influence was dropped and Slockett pleaded guilty to speeding, paid $56 in fines and court costs and completed a three-day OWI Weekend Program at Kirkwood Community College...

...According to Iowa City Police, at 10:14 p.m. Sunday, Slockett, 60, was driving southbound on Dubuque Street and failed to yield at Washington Street, where several pedestrians were attempting to cross.

The police complaint noted that Slockett had red, watery eyes, slurred speech, poor balance and an odor of alcohol on his breath. Slockett failed his field sobriety test and blew a .133 on his breathalyzer test. The legal blood alcohol content in Iowa is .08.

I think the drinking age should be raised from 21 to 61.

That'll fix things, won't it?


Related: Various posts about the drinking age

But Obama Is Really For Tax Breaks For Wealthy Companies

From Radio Iowa:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says the government has a role to play in helping communities like Newton "rebuild" after a major employer closes up shop.

Maytag operations in Newton are scheduled to shut down this year.

During a town hall meeting in Newton Monday afternoon, Obama said companies that move their assembly lines or service centers to other countries should lose federal tax breaks. "We don't give tax breaks to companies that are moving overseas," Obama said, as the crowd began applauding. "Let's save our tax breaks for the companies that are investing right here in the United States. That's common sense."

All right, so let me get this straight:

If Maytag pulls out of Newton, they shouldn't get any Federal tax breaks for relocating their operations in Mexico or South Korea. Fair enough.

But what if Maytag wants to consolidate operations in some place like Arkansas or South Carolina? Should they continue to get Federal tax breaks?

And how fair is it to the taxpayers in Iowa that Maytag is leaving Newton? Should the Federal, State, and local taxpayers be obligated to spend billions on retraining and enticing new companies to relocate?

And what about the governments in other states who are attempting to entice Maytag to consolidate and expand operations in their area? You can bet that a company as big as Maytag could work up a deal that takes any future property taxes off the table. They'd likely get other bennies as well, including TIF money and free roads and new sewers at no cost. Who will pick up the tab for that? Regular working Joes, that's who.

I'd love to hear a politician come out and say that corporate welfare and tax gimmeaways needs to be drastically scaled back or ended. Shouldn't companies be paying their fair share, Obama?

Likewise, when you've got Wells Fargo getting something like $80 million in tax breaks and corporate welfare, ostensibly for "jobs", but then they go and spend $10 million on "naming rights" for a giant arena in Des Moines and then announces that they have the second highest-paid executive at a publicly traded company in the State of Iowa, that's nothing short of obscene.

Davenport's Trashed Parks

From the Quad City Times:

Empty beer bottles, overflowing garbage cans, litter and a toppled porta-potty greeted hundreds of young day campers attending United Neighbors Inc.’s summer park program on Monday.

The program, which serves about 400 low-income and at-risk children from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday all summer, is hosted at Herrington, Cork Hill and Emeis parks. Most of the children are from the central city.

Since the camp began one week ago, the parks have been consistently trash-filled, unmowed and generally unkempt, forcing United Neighbors employees to spend about an hour each morning cleaning rather than providing programming, a trio of executives from the organization told aldermen Monday night.

“It’s taking away from the kids,” said Ida Johnson, United Neighbors’ executive director. “We’re hoping with the help of the police department and the help of the city council, they’ll be able to monitor the parks more.”

Marge Stratton, vice president of the board, said children at Herrington Park had to avoid sewage spilling out of the vandalized porta-potty. In the 15 years the summer park program has been in existence, this is about the worst condition she has seen the parks, she added.

She said the parks department was informed of the problems, but had not yet addressed concerns.

If you can't keep the garage cans from overflowing in the parks, your government has serious problems.

Time to start firing people.

Compare Tennessee's Mary Winkler To Iowa's Dixie Shanahan

Dixie Shanahan, after her first husband beat her up

From About.com today:

A Tennessee judge sentenced Mary Winkler to 210 days incarceration for her voluntary manslaughter conviction for shooting her husband in the back with a shotgun while he lay in bed. Winkler will get credit for time she served in jail before she made bond, leaving only 60 days that she will actually be incarcerated.

Winkler was actually sentenced to three years, with only seven months of that time to be in incarceration. She will also be incarcerated in a facility that will allow her to get treatment for mental illness.

Because Winkler was in jail five months before members of her church were able to post her bond, she will actually be incarcerated for about two months.

The judge turned down a defense request for a judicial diversion sentence, deferring jail time. He also turned down a request for probation.

Before she was sentenced, Mary asked the court for leniency. "I ask for mercy and understanding, but I know whatever decision you reach today will be right," Mary Winkler told the judge. "I ask you to please let me go home today and be with my children."

Mary Winkler, 32, was charged with first-degree murder for the shotgun shooting death of her husband, Matthew Winkler, on March 22 at their Fourth Street Church of Christ parsonage in Selmer, Tennessee. She was arrested the following day in Alabama, where she had taken the couple's three young daughters.

In April, a jury convicted Winkler of voluntary manslaughter after hearing testimony that she was physically and mentally abused by her husband, Matthew Winkler.

During the trial, Winkler took the witness stand herself and told the jury about the mental and sexual abuse she experienced from her husband. She also said the shotgun accidentally discharged as she was pointing it at Matthew to get him to talk with her.

She told the jury that Matthew Winkler hit and kicked her, forced her to watch pornography and demanded sex she considered unnatural.

Compare that to Iowa's Dixie Shanahan, whose 50 year sentence for killing her abusive husband was commuted to 10 years by then-Governor Tom Vilsack, but only after the bitches he had appointed to the parole board gave Shanahan a bunch of shit for not taking a deal.

Here's some background:

At trial, Dixie explained her relationship with Scott at the end of August 2002 was “[v]ery, very rocky” and she was being “[v]ery badly” abused by him three to four times a week. She said when she found out she was pregnant with Brittany, Scott “went ballistic” and told her to have an abortion. She refused. She testified they fought for several days, with Scott beating Dixie. During the beatings, Scott would tell her he would make sure she would not have the baby and there was nothing she could do about it.

She went on to testify that on August 30, 2002, Dixie woke up around 6:30 a.m. and woke her children. She sent Zachary to school before Scott awoke. When Scott woke up, he became enraged because Dixie did not wake him before Zachary left. She stated he then pulled Dixie by the hair and beat her in the stomach, hollering he was going to kill the unborn baby one way or another. At this point, Dixie sent Ashley to a friend’s house nearby. Dixie testified as she tried to leave, Scott followed her, took the car keys from her, and prevented her from leaving. He then knocked her on the ground, dragged her by her hair back into the house, and punched her in the stomach saying, “I’m gonna kill this baby. You’re not having this baby.”

Dixie said while she laid there crying, Scott went into the other room and came back with the shotgun. She said he was in a rage, physically shaking, and calling her names. He put two different shells in the gun and pointed the gun at her. He threatened her by saying, “This day is not over yet. I will kill you.” He then walked away. As she sat in the living room chair, he came back in a rage and beat her again, threatening her and the unborn baby’s lives.

Scott took all of the telephones out of the telephone jacks except the one in the bedroom. He took the telephones with him into the bedroom, where he laid down. Dixie thought the telephone in the bedroom was still working. Despite being dressed and sitting in a chair right by the door with nobody around, Dixie decided to call the police instead of leaving the house. She went into the bedroom to get the telephone. She said Scott was awake lying in bed on his side. As Dixie entered the bedroom to get the telephone, she saw Scott make a movement at her or the gun sitting beside the telephone. Dixie said she saw the gun, grabbed it, pointed it at Scott, closed her eyes, and shot him in the back of the head. She claimed she needed to protect herself and did not have any other choice but to fire the gun.

Dixie said she set the gun down, walked out of the bedroom, and sat in a chair for a couple of hours. She described herself as “[v]ery upset,” thinking about what she did and what she was going to do. Still unsure about what she was going to do, Dixie went back into the bedroom, pulled up the sheets to cover the body, retrieved the telephone and the gun, shut the bedroom door, and put a towel underneath it. She put the gun in the children’s bedroom closet.

Dixie never did anything else with Scott’s body and never told anyone what happened. She and her children continued to live in the house trying to live a normal life. She told people lies about Scott so she could avoid going to jail. She said she went into the bedroom three times after the shooting, all in the same day. She said at the time of the shooting the windows were open in the house, but she was able to close the bedroom window from the outside.

Dixie Shanahan's main crime seems to be that she didn't call the police after it happened because she was physically abused and mentally fucked up.

So why does Mary Winkler get a short sentence when Dixie Shanahan doesn't?

Donde Esta Tom Harkin Ley De Amnistia

From the Quad City Times:

Iowa's U.S. senators are getting mixed messages from constituents about immigration legislation being debated this week.

Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, said this morning that the Iowans he's spoken to are unsure how to view the bill, which would create a new guest worker program and set new rules for how illegal immigrants can take steps toward citizenship.

"One the one level, there's a visceral reaction to people who have broken the law and come here illegally. On the other hand, what do you do with the situation you've got?" Harkin asked during a conference call with reporters.

Harkin said there's a conflict between what's fair and what's practical. He thinks it would be fair to deport illegal immigrants, but it's not practical to round up 12 million people.

"People shouldn't be here illegally," he said, using his mother as an example of someone who played by the rules as a legal immigrant.

Harkin said he's struggling to decide how to vote on the bill.

Last year, Tom Harkin said:

...we need three things: One, we need tough, consistent, effective enforcement of reformed immigration laws. Two, we need to enforce sanctions against employers who hire immigrants unauthorized to work. And, three, we need a temporary-worker program, with documentation, that gives immigrants a reasonable path to earning full American citizenship. We are not talking, here, about amnesty, which would be wrong. We are talking about a process of earned legalization – giving people a practical way to earn citizenship by working, paying taxes, paying a fine when necessary, and learning English.

“We need to deal with the reality that is before us: 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom have lived here for many years and have children and other family members who are U.S. citizens. These people are working and contributing to our prosperity. They may be undocumented. They may be living in the shadows. But make no mistake, they are de facto members of our American economy and society. They are integrated into the fabric of our national life. They are not going away – and, frankly, we would face huge problems if they did. As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said recently, “If you kick out 11.5 million to 12 million people, it will bring this economy to a screeching halt.”

“Let’s acknowledge these realities, and then let’s establish a legal framework within which these immigrants can work, learn English, pass security background checks, pay fines and penalties where necessary, and earn the right eventually to become U.S. citizens.

“At the same time, let’s not delude ourselves with so-called solutions that are unworkable, unaffordable, or just plain mean-spirited. As a wise person once said, "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, clean, and wrong."

“For example, the House has passed a bill that calls for criminalizing undocumented immigrants; rounding them up and deporting them; and charging with crimes anyone who might help, including clergy and church members.

“Does anyone seriously believe that it is feasible to round up 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants? Who will conduct this roundup? Are we going to spend the $40 billion it would take to hire a vast army of agents to do it? And even if it were physically possible to round up 12 million people, how could it be done humanely? For example, would we be willing to break up families. Would we deport mothers and dads, but allow their U.S.-citizen children to stay?

“Others advocate that we spend additional tens of billions of dollars to build a 700-mile wall across our southern border. But a wall is not the answer. Over the last decade, we have tripled the number of border patrol agents and quintupled the enforcement budget, but the flow of undocumented immigrants has continued unabated. What’s more, a wall would do nothing to stop the 40 percent of undocumented immigrants – up to 4 million people -- who came here legally on visas, but stayed illegally after the visas expired.

“It’s time to acknowledge why immigrants continue to come across our border, making enormous sacrifices and often risking their lives. They are coming for economic opportunity, to better themselves, and to reunite their families. In other words, they are coming for exactly the same reasons that my mother came to America- to make a better life for herself and her family. The difference is that they are coming, now, as undocumented, illegal immigrants because we have failed to create documented, legal avenues for our economy to get the workers that it needs.

“We have heard it said that undocumented immigrants drive down wages for American citizens at the low end of the economic scale. According to this argument, undocumented immigrants are so desperate and fearful, that they will work for the minimum wage or less -- and they will tolerate harsh, unsafe working conditions. Unfortunately, there is plenty of truth to this argument – and that’s why we need to bring these people out of the shadows. If they are given documentation and legal status, then employers will have to pay them a decent wage and treat them fairly. This will raise the floor – it will raise wages at the bottom rungs of the ladder – and this will benefit all American workers.

“There is another huge cost and danger to allowing the status quo to continue. The current system has driven undocumented workers deep underground. We are not able to document, track, and control who is within our borders. This is an ideal environment for Al Qaeda and others who aim to penetrate our society.

“Because of our preoccupation with chasing down undocumented immigrants, we are diverting scarce resources from addressing the real threats to our national security – criminals and terrorists. This needs to change. Instead of spending our law-enforcement dollars trying to track down gardeners and dishwashers, let’s focus on those who truly wish to do us harm.

“Throughout America’s history, the subject of immigration has lent itself to fear-mongering, demagoguery, and simplistic, so-called solutions. But to our credit – and to America’s great social and economic benefit – we have listened to the better angels of our nature. We have refused to slam the door. We have been true to our tradition as a nation of immigrants.

“Today, once again, we are challenged to rise above fear and prejudice, and to do the right thing. Legally or illegally, immigrants will continue to come to America, as they have for four centuries. We need smart immigration reform – reform that will protect our borders and crack down on employers who hire those unauthorized to work, while creating a guest worker program that gives immigrants the opportunity for earned legalization and family reunification.

“I commend the Judiciary Committee for sending to the floor a bipartisan bill that would accomplish important things. It would bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows so that we know who they are, where they live, where they are from – and so we can identify any who are a threat to our homeland security. It would allow earned legalization for those who pass security background checks. It will take more than 10 years for an undocumented immigrant to demonstrate that he or she is a person of good standing, and is paying taxes, learning English and has paid necessary fines. These people would not jump ahead of anyone who is already in line for citizenship.

Harkin's response in 2006 was surprisingly rational and reasonable, something the Bush-Kennedy-Kyl amnesty plan is not.

Is Loebsack Vulnerable In 2008?

Common Iowan has a post ("Is Loebsack Vulnerable in 2008?") about a political analyst who believes that Democrat Dave Loebsack's House seat is vulnerable in the 2008 elections.

Common Iowan is critical of the analyst's opinion:

I disagree with Sabato that Leach was a better fit for the district than Loebsack. IA-02 is one of the heaviest leaning Democratic districts in the country. Leach was a Republican, Loebsack is a Democrat, it is that simple.

So it seems that Sabato thinks Loebsack has a good shot of being challenged in 2008 in a Democratic Primary. This isn't that surprising since there might have been some people thinking about running, but never thought Leach could be beat. Now that Loebsack has taken down Leach, they might think it is their shot

It's that simple, Common Iowan?

Oh, if it were only that simple...

From my post in January ("The DNC Wants To Model 2008 Campaigns On The Loebsack-Leach Race: Why That's A Bad Thing"):

The Loebsack-Leach race was actually a rather unique situation. The two candidates were very similar on many issues; both were against the Iraq War (Leach voted against it), both were against the Bush Tax Cuts (Leach was the only House Republican voting against them in 2002), and both were critics of many of President Bush's policies. Leach is also pro-abortion and in favor of taxpayers funding stem cell research. Leach wouldn't accept PAC money or out-of-state donations. The only thing Jim Leach had going for him in the past was his lengthy incumbency, name recognition, and chairmanship of the House Financial Services committee, but that crumbled away as he was forced to move into a more Democrat-leaning district several years ago after Iowa was reapportioned.

What's the difference between Dave Loebsack and Jim Leach, other than the letter behind their names? Not much, if you think about it.

What do I think happened?

Two things:

1. Dave Loebsack gave RINOs and moderate independents a reason to vote against a House lifer. It was an anti-incumbency thing.

2. Jim Leach was not the kind of candidate that excited the Republican base. Say you're pro-life, or maybe you think the tax cuts were a good idea, or maybe you're in favor of the war in Iraq. Who are you going to vote for? Well, you don't have anybody to vote for, so you leave the bubble blank. It's as simple as that.

And then I quote the Political Madman from January, who said this in his blog about Loebsack choosing to not cut and run in Iraq:

Congressman Loebsack, if you or someone from your staff is reading this, listen closely because I'm only going to say this once. You were narrowly elected over a popular 30-year incumbent based largely on your views on specific issues, one of which was the war. If you intend to walk back to the middle on this, then you shouldn't get too comfortable in Washington, because you'll be back in Mt. Vernon before you know it.

If Loebsack can survive 2008, he'll likely make it a few more terms before retirement. I guess it just depends on how bad of a candidate the clueless Republicans in Iowa will field and then not support.

Don't forget that Iowa's likely to lose a House seat after the 2010 census. Not only that, but Democrats control the Iowa Legislature and will likely redraw boundaries to make Loebsack's district a bit safer.

$85 A Month Health Insurance

From the Daily Iowan:

Richard Saunders, the senior associate director of UI Human Resources, said many students obtain health insurance through their parents' plans or the UI Student Health Insurance Plan. Once these students graduate or leave the university for any other reason, they must seek other options, one of which is provided by the university.

In order to aid students during their transition from academia to the work force, the school offers short-term health- and dental-insurance plans to former students. These plans are available for a maximum of 12 months, Saunders said.

The UI began offering these plans, around a year ago, he said, but fewer than 50 former students are taking advantage of them. He said a single person can purchase the coverage for only $85 a month - a cheaper alternative to private health-insurance plans of comparable quality. While many employers' health-insurance plans only begin covering new employees after a waiting period, the university's plan - which is available to students within 45 days after they leave - helps graduates avoid a lapse in coverage, Saunders said.

That is dirt cheap.

Why aren't more students and recent graduates taking advantage of this?

I'd rather see the gaps filled in this way than resorting to an expensive Communist model.

Do Google Searches And Background Checks Really Matter?

Nicholas Johnson:

In an earlier blog entry I wrote about a search in which I had participated (not for a UI president). We had a search committee and an expensive, well-regarded search firm. Before making our selection, as a backup to their work and just to make sure someone had touched all the bases, I gave a weekend out of my life to searching the Web and calling some of the most logical people regarding one of our top candidates. The result? I discovered to my horror that no one from our search firm (or committee) had contacted any of the people who knew the most about that candidate. None of the relevant 90 Web sites I'd found, containing some relevant negative information, had even been visited by them, let alone copied and passed along to committee members...

...In an age when folks are Googling their blind dates before going out with them, thorough Internet searches about job applicants should be standard procedure.

So I'm wondering: Has our UI Presidential Search Committee II, or its search firm, done these thorough Internet searches on these folks whose secret identities are to be revealed to us next week?

I hate to throw cold water here, but what does it matter?

If somebody or a group has an agenda, like the 18 people involved with the hiring of ISU Provost Elizabeth Hoffman did in 2006, then Google searches, professionals vouching for character, and background checks don't matter.

In the case of Elizabeth Hoffman, everybody involved with her hiring likely knew that during a deposition involving a rape case she said:

In 2004, University of Colorado president Elizabeth Hoffman fanned the flames of a football rape case when, during a deposition, she was asked if she thought "cunt" was a "filthy and vile" word. She replied that it was a "swear word" but had "actually heard it used as a term of endearment." A spokesperson later clarified that Hoffman meant the word had polite meanings in its original use centuries ago. In the rape case, a CU football player had allegedly called female player Katie Hnida a "fucking lovely cunt".

A quick search also would have uncovered that the Boulder, Colorado chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), likely chocked full of very liberally-minded feminists, didn't like Hoffman.

Not only that, but the 18-member committee surely knew of Hoffman's inability to fire Ward Churchill:

The review of Churchill's scholarship and whether or not the university has grounds to fire the tenured professor was instigated after Churchill's essay about the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks came to light. In his controversial essay, Churchill compared the victims to "little Eichmanns," referring to Nazi bureaucrat Adolf Eichmann, who helped carry out the Holocaust. The professor argued that those who worked at the World Trade Centers were not innocent victims but were actively participating in an unfair American economic system that provoked the terrorist attacks.

Ward Churchill

The fact that the general public in Iowa could have cared less about Hoffman's hiring at ISU at $275,000 a year (one of the highest paid provosts in the Big 12), shows just what these people can get away with even in this day and age of Google searches and blogs.

Meanwhile, In My Part Of The Country

Down here, there's been nothing on the news but the terrible abduction and murder of 18 year old Kelsey Smith. Her mother's originally from Des Moines and her grandparents still live there.

Both Kansas and Missouri have the death penalty. And since Smith was taken across the state line during the crime, a suspect could also be brought up on Federal death penalty charges as well.

It's all everybody has been talking about, especially today with the discovery of Smith's body. The cell phone tower information used to locate her suspected whereabouts is really interesting. But it reminds me too much of Dru Sjodin's abduction and murder in North Dakota and Minnesota in 2003. It's just awful.

I've Seen The Future, And It Isn't A Bald-Headed Drag Queen From New York

From O. Kay Henderson's Radio Iowa blog:

At 11 o'clock central time this morning, Giuliani's campaign aides talked with reporters via a conference call to make the announcement that Giuliani will not participate in the Iowa Republican Party's Straw Poll in Ames this August. Giuliani aides said it would let them focus exclusively on the Caucuses and shift the $3 million that would be required to be competitive in the Straw Poll would be spent, instead, on Giuliani's Caucus effort.

The Giuliani campaign's Maria Comella came on the line and introduced Giuliani campaign manager Michael DuHaime.

DuHaime: "We have made a decision as a campaign that we are not going to participating in a financial way in any straw polls this year and that includes the Ames Straw Poll, most notably, but also other straw polls out there being discussed -- Texas, Michigan and others -- and we've made that decision as basically being the one that's in our best interest.

"I think what's important to note is that we are 100 percent committed to winning the Iowa Caucuses in January.

How much more Jim Ross Nussle can you get?

Giuliani might as well drop out right now. He's toast.

Remember the good old days in August 2006 when Giuliani was in first place in Iowa with 30%, McCain had 17.3%, and Bill Frist had 6.5? Me neither.


Related: Rudy Giuliani Doesn't Know How To Run A Winning Campaign

Lick Ya Later

From the Rochester Post-Bulletin:

New Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter would have to pay up to $3 million if he leaves voluntarily before his contract expires, but also would receive $600,000 for each year that remains if the university terminates his contract early.

Lickliter signed a seven-year contract in April worth $1.2 million a year. The contract, which runs through 2014, was made public Monday.

It shows he will be paid a base salary of $650,000 and receive $550,000 in outside income.

The contract includes a termination clause in which Lickliter would have to pay the university $3 million in damages if he leaves voluntarily before June 30, 2008. That drops to $2 million if he terminates his contract before June 30, 2009; $1 million if he leaves before June 30, 2010; and $500,000 if he leaves before June 30, 2011.

I like that sort of termination clause on an expensive, multi-year contract. More college athletic directors should require it in the future.

Pronounced: "Masterbate"

The Real Sporer watched the Republican mass-debate and had comments about everybody's performance.

I watched that disaster for about 5 minutes. It was god-awful boring. I didn't even recognize half of the people on the stage. Tommy Thompson looked like a pasty old drag queen, and he's supposed to be in charge of health?

And then there's old Ze'ev Barak moderating the thing, asking questions about the Scooter Libby trial, as if anybody really gives a shit. Don't you find it weird that Libby's boss Bush would offer a pardon to 12 million illegal Mexicans but he can't bother to dole one out to a guy who basically got railroaded by a zealous prosecutor? Meanwhile, here on Planet Earth, Sandy Burglar got a slap on the wrist for destroying classified document relating to the Clinton Administration's handling of terrorism and Democratic Congressman William Jefferson got caught with $90,000 in bribes in his freezer and is still going to work rather than sitting in a pound-me-in-the-ass Federal Prison. Something is just too fucked up about all that.

Dukakis Vet To Run Hitlery's Iowa Campaign

Teresa Vilmain (left)

O. Kay Henderson's Radio Iowa blog:

Teresa Vilmain has been named Clinton's Iowa campaign manager. I first met Vilmain in 1987 when she was the Iowa campaign manager for Michael Dukakis (he finished third in Iowa in '88). The product of two politically-active parents, I believe the first Iowa presidential campaign she was paid to work on was Ted Kennedy's in 1980 (when she was in college).

Henderson reprints the campaign press release, which gives more background on Vilmain's political career.

I don't think it matters how seasoned of a veteran the Hitlery campaign brings in to run Iowa, I think the candidate is going nowhere because nobody likes or trusts her.

But President Bush Wants To Keep Him Here

From the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader:

A Sioux Center, Iowa, man was sentenced Monday to five years in prison on felony and misdemeanor charges, but will spend just 60 days in jail before he is released to federal officials’ custody to be deported.

Luis A. Cortes-Trejo, 26, was sentenced on felony forgery and felony and misdemeanor identify theft charges, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a hold on him, Sioux County Attorney Coleman J. McAllister said. After the jail term, ICE will take Cortes-Trejo into custody.

Sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Kelderman found Cortes-Trejo had no valid driver’s license, Social Security number or insurance in an April 13 traffic stop. He claimed he worked at Premium Iowa Pork in Hospers. Kelderman found pay stubs from that business and a Sioux Center cleaning service. They listed Luis Cortes and a suspected, fake Social Security number. The number belonged to an Alabama man and was used in about six places nationwide.

Cortes-Trejo admitted that he created a fake Social Security card and gave it to Premium Iowa Pork to work there.

I take exception to the first sentence in this story: A Sioux Center, Iowa, man....

He's not from Sioux Center. He's an illegal wetback from Mexico who is messing with people's lives by using stolen Social Security numbers and driving around without a valid license or insurance.

Kick his illegal Mexican ass out of the country along with the rest of these criminals.

Day 500

Nicholas Johnson:

It has been 500 days since the Iowa Board of Regents has known that those who desired the departure of one of America's preeminent university presidents had achieved their wish. Much beloved, multi-talented superstar David Skorton, who once said he was at Iowa for life, and thought a $300,000-a-year salary was "very generous" in a state where the average family income was in the $40,000 range, announced 500 days ago that he was going to become president at Cornell University. He left in a characteristically classy fashion, with no public criticism of the Regents. Cornell held him in a little higher esteem than did our Regents, and paid him a package roughly three times what our Regents thought he was worth.

Could we have had a smooth transition a full year ago, putting a new UI president in place the day Skorton left, at the end of the 2006 spring semester? Absolutely.

I think blame for this primarily falls on the shoulders of Generalissimo Michael Gartner.

But you can't forget that Tom Vilsack appointed all these goofballs to the Board of Regents.

Something to ponder: If Gartner had never been appointed to the Board of Regents because a Republican was living in Terrace Hill the past few years, would Skorton have become the UI President and would he still be there? I dare say: Yes and Yes.

Cracker Crumbs

In followup to yesterday's post ("What's The Matter With All You Crackers In Iowa?"), a reader writes:

Carla Wilson’s point of view is misguided. It presumes that it is up to us Iowans to accommodate and perhaps encourage the behaviors that have proven so harmful to these newcomers. The Iowa City Area- being the lefty area that it is- has offered a wide variety of government-sponsored assistance programs. My neighborhood school in Coralville offers a “Family Resource Center” that provides everything from homework help to clothes. The city itself is operating a free lunch program for kids every summer. All this and apparently it is still not enough...

...I would like Carla to note that Iowa City has been a diverse place for years due to the university. I went to school with lots of kids from China, Korea, Taiwan, Central and South America, even one person from Cameroon. They were polite and hardworking. That is what has changed.

The migrants that Iowa City used to welcome were people who appreciated being here and the opportunities life in Iowa and America represented. They were grateful. The new migrants act as if they are entitled to our charity, and no matter how much we do it is never enough. Forgive me if I remove my welcome mat.

I'm assuming that Carla Wilson's documentary film will be a bunch of one-sided, woe-is-me, black-racist propaganda, mostly because of the way the newspaper story about the film was written and what Wilson was quoted as saying. I could be wrong, but Wilson seems to use all the usual talking points of your typical interloping black-racist idiot and criminal apologist who has a chip on her shoulder and the gullible media's ear.

What Does It Mean To Be An Adult?

A reply at the Cedar River Salmon blog about my recent post ("Let's Treat 20 Year Old Adults Like The Children They Really Are") which was also picked up by Instapundit over the weekend:

In 1971 the 26th Amendment to the Constitution granting the right to vote at 18 was passed. By 1973 the draft was ended and states around the country began to lower the drinking age. It was time to party like it's 1969! In Iowa it was done incrementally, first to 19 then the following year to 18. Although at 16 I didn't know anyone 21 that would buy us alcohol it wasn't hard to find a willing accomplice that was 19. By 17 me and most of my high school class were getting into several local bars no questions asked.

By the late seventies a trend was apparent that caused the states to rethink their decision. Teens in disproportionate numbers were killing themselves and others which resulted in the formation of groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers...

...So to answer State 29's question it's because in many ways they still are children. The time between 18 and 21 should be a time of learning, an apprenticeship so to speak. A time to sneak out have a good time once in a while and by the time your 21 you will have at least mastered that god awful bed spinning thing and know the best way to get your dates dinner, along with several bottles of Boone's Farm, out of the cars upholstery.

Drunk driving was a far more permissive activity in the 1970s. I won't say that it was socially accepted, except maybe amongst numerous members of the Iowa Legislature who regularly practiced it, but there wasn't as much of a social stigma attached to drinking and driving as there is today.

Eventually, drunk driving laws were toughened, but it took a long long time for that to happen. Even today we see judges who let habitual drunk drivers basically get away with killing people.

My argument is basically about consistency within the law about at what point an adult becomes an adult.

Yes, it's true that 18, 19, and 20 year olds have higher rates of drunk driving deaths when alcohol was legal for them to purchase. But it's also true that 18, 19, and 20 year olds have higher rates of divorce if they get married during those years of their lives. Should we ban marriage until the age of 21?

Young people usually get their first credit cards while in college. Many 18, 19, and 20 year olds don't manage their finances well and they end up in debt hell and perhaps bankruptcy down the road. Should we ban the issuing of credit cards until the age of 21?

18, 19, and 20 year olds can volunteer to join the military. If they die before the age of 21 in combat, like Army Spc David Behrle did, is that too much for people to handle? Should we ban recruitment into the military until the age of 21?

You can see where I'm going here.

The Iowa City ordinance today, if I read it correctly, is that people under the age of 21 can go into the town's bars until 10pm. That seems like a recipe for disaster.

It seems like a simple fix: ban everybody under the age of 21 from entering a bar at any time. That makes sense.

But what doesn't make sense is that if a 20 year old can't get into a bar, he can walk down the bank and get a credit card, stop by the Army recruiting office and sign up, or stop over at County Courthouse and start a business, vote, get married or divorced, or declare bankruptcy.

Bye Bye Hybrids, Hello Clean Diesels

Last year, Iowa was not in the running when Honda was scouting locations in order to build gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. Indiana won that $550 million manufacturing plant which will employ 2000 people.

Fast forward a year later and Honda has announced that it will stop production of its gasoline-electric hybrid version of the Accord, which only accounted for less than 2% of all Accord sales. Honda will continue to make a gas-electric hybrid of the Civic and another new subcompact model to be launched in 2009.

Instead, Honda will fit the Accord with a clean diesel engine that will get 62 mpg on the highway!

Ouch! That's got to hit ethanol proponents in the corn stalks!

Today, diesel is selling in the midwest for basically the same price as E85 ethanol. If Honda's gas-powered Accords were able to burn E85 (they can't), you'd be able to drive about 600 miles further on a tank of diesel than you would a tank of E85.

What's The Matter With All You Crackers In Iowa?

From the SUX Journal:

Carla Wilson, an independent filmmaker who moved to Iowa City from Los Angeles four years ago, saw an influx of poor blacks from Chicago and a community resistant to change.

Wilson heard quiet conversations, read about black migrants and Section 8 housing assistance and saw black children being labeled as difficult and the cause of falling test scores. It drove her to start a three-year project examining how Iowa City accepts new black families, and the overall trend of underclass urban flight to supposed safe havens.

Wilson is almost finished with her 60-minute documentary film about the subject, titled, "Black American Gothic: Planting Urban Roots in Iowa."

"People in this town, or the Midwest in general, are pretty apprehensive to talk about race or diversity," Wilson said. "It's a matter of experience. There traditionally hasn't been a lot of minorities here."

The film is due to be released in 2008 and likely will be aired on Iowa Public Television. Wilson's husband, Daniel Gross, and Bridget Tsemo, both University of Iowa rhetoric professors also worked on the film.

It outlines the history of blacks in Iowa and follows three subjects, all blacks from Chicago, during the course of a year. In Iowa City, like many places, the issue is one of economically challenged individuals or families leaving their home city, for various reasons, for a better life.

When they get to the new home, despite better schools, more available assistance and less crime, the culture shock and a new community that doesn't understand their needs makes it difficult to settle.

I wonder if this "documentary" will talk about all the blacks that the State of Illinois exports to numerous towns in Iowa via waivers as a way to alleviate welfare and Section 8 costs and to basically game the system. I bet not.

What sort of culture shock is a new home, better schools, more assistance, and less crime? Should the welfare bums from Chicago also bring along their ghetto culture of hopelessness, pride in being uneducated, rap lyrics about bitches, niggas, and ho's, gun crime, and all that phony 'hood posturing that looks stupid to most normal working people?

Maybe that's why James Michael Willis of Iowa City wants to "Kill all white people!!!!!!"

However this movie spins things (and I can tell from the tone of this story which way it's going...), I sure hope the filmmakers have applied for their special tax break! That way, everybody involved with the film can be sucking on the teet of the taxpayers.

Why Health Care Is So Freakin Expensive

Wells Fargo's Mark Oman

From the SUX Journal:

Principal Financial Group chairman and CEO Barry Griswell pulled in the largest compensation package of any Iowa executive in 2006, earning $16,848,924, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Then you've got this:

Mark Oman, senior executive vice president of the Home & Consumer Finance business unit of Wells Fargo & Co., was the second-best paid Iowa executive last year. He made $600,000 in salary in 2006, but with a car allowance, country club dues and home security expenses added in, his total package was $6,350,977.

Must be a pretty frickin expensive car, country club, and home security system!

I'm sure Iowa taxpayers sure are glad they ponied up over $80 million in corporate welfare to give to Wells Fargo in order to "create jobs" and also to pay for Mark Oman's country club dues. What a complete ripoff.

You know, if you can pay your senior executive vice president over $6 million a year and can also afford to spend $10 million in naming rights for the Giant Carbuncle in Des Moines, you don't need any taxpayer-financed corporate welfare.

Oman is also one of the idiots pushing the Project Destiny tax increase ripoff.

Hitlery Clinton Is Dead In Iowa

From the Associated Press:

"If the caucuses were held today, it's fair to say she would probably not win," former state Democratic Party Chairman Gordon Fischer said. "It's going to take a tremendous amount of work to catch up—it's doable, but it's going to be difficult."

...Her advisers acknowledge she would not win Iowa if the vote happened anytime soon. And anything less than victory in Iowa would undermine her greatest asset: the hard-fought perception that she is the inevitable nominee

"There is no notion of inevitability—that's not what's being projected here," said Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor and national co-chair of Clinton's campaign. "We understand it's a tough fight, and that it's a very competitive situation."

The campaign memo argues that winning Iowa would require a huge investment—as much as $15 million that could cripple the campaign later as it moved ahead to later states.

THIS is exactly why you want Iowa to be first in the country when it comes to the caucuses!

Iowa Democrats know she's a phony who can't be trusted on matters such as the War in Iraq.

And if Gordon Fischer is having doubts, you might as well dump a Kansas farmhouse on her. Let John Edwards wear the ruby slippers!

First she voted for the war, but then she lied and said Bush misused her vote. Then she voted to keep funding the war she's now against!

Even more important. Democrats in Iowa are more concerned about who could potentially win the election in 2008. They're not stupid enough to think that Hitlery's huge negatives, especially amongst women who don't trust a faux-feminist sellout who would let her philandering husband constantly embarrass and shit all over her in public, is worth the fight. Remember that people liked Bill, but they tolerated Hitlery.

I guess what I'm saying is: don't forget that the Democrat mantra is "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing!" and how it factors in here.

Hitlery can fly around to all these record producers on the coasts who are rapping lyrics about bitches and ho's and collect her millions in donations from the coked-nose crowd. That's not going to win over the die-hards here in the heartland. Half of her audience is comprised of Republicans who want a look but who will never vote for her. What does that say about her support?

It ain't there.

Hitlery un perdidor......

Legally Get Drunk At Home With Mom And Dad

From the Waterloo Courier:

While consumption of alcohol by people less than 21 is illegal in Iowa, the issue isn't quite that simple in Osage because of a quirk in city code.

That's not true.

From the Iowa Department of Alcoholic Beverages web site:

Liquor, wine, or beer may be given or dispensed to a person under legal age within a private home and with the knowledge, presence, and consent of the parent or guardian for beverage or medicinal purposes.

Just don't go out in public afterwards.

While The Cancer Ate Away Her Organs, Like An Unstoppable Rebel Force

The John Edwards campaign is making little films:


Here's some Q&A in New Hampton:

I think that's a pretty good short movie, mostly because the question comes from an audience member. No wonder Edwards is doing well in Iowa.

As opposed to Hitlery in this CNN clip which pretty much defines what a stupid faux-feminist she really is:

Conservatives To Bush: F*** You

Peggy Noonan at OpinionJournal.com:

For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? Too bad! You don't like expanding governmental authority and power? Too bad. You think the war was wrong or is wrong? Too bad.

But on immigration it has changed from "Too bad" to "You're bad."

I don't think conservatives were ever really supporters of George W. Bush.

They tolerated him on the Iraqi War, but they never trusted him anywhere else.

Bush never vetoed anything (until recently) and could have given a shit about fiscal conservatism.

Some of you die-hard "progressive" Democrats may complain about the Bush tax cuts, but the evidence shows that upper-income and rich people now pay a higher percentage of the income taxes than before and poor/lower income people pay less or even get cash back from the IRS (see Myth #10 here). Isn't that what you want?

Now Bush wants to give amnesty to zillions of illegal Mexicans while screwing immigrants who do things legally. Conservatives are saying a final "Fuck you" to Bush, as well they should.

It's no wonder Bush's popularity is about 28%. It's not that the other 72% of Bushaters are Democrats or anti-war. I'd be willing to bet that quite a large number of Bush's negatives are fiscal conservatives of the Republican or Independent-leaning-Republican variety.

Democrats shouldn't think that they're going to cruise into the White House or keep their majorities in Congress after the 2008 elections. They might, but they've also got to remember the Republicans could very well nominate a couple of "outsiders" who fiscal conservatives could get behind (as opposed to the Socialist Bullshit that Hitlery and Obama are dishing out on the Democratic side).

Promises Made, Promises Not Kept

From Don't Run With Scissors via the Real Sporer:

[Iowa Governor Chet] Culver moved the Capital for a Day to the Western Historic Trails Center in Pottawattamie County. We had to endure lame jokes from Mike Gronstal (I realize this is redundant because he is a joke). A crowd of about 100 people, including well known democrats from Mills and Pottawattamie Counties waited and waited and waited for Culver to arrive. At about 2 PM (an hour after the scheduled start time) Kevin Concannon, Director of Health and Human Services delivered a short speech to fill time and then Matthew Schultz, Council Bluffs City Councilman, introduced Culver. The honor fell to Matthew as Mayor Tom Hanafan is out of town. Culver read an official proclamation declaring the Capital had been moved to Council Bluffs for one day.

He then proceeded to read his opening remarks. I can't believe he had to read things like "It is so nice to be here this afternoon". The theme for the day was "Promises Made -- Promises Kept" and I had some good questions ready for Culver since he made a point of billing the afternoon as getting to know what the people want and to answer their questions. To my dismay he didn't take questions from the floor...you had to fill out a special form with name, address, phone etc and write your question or concern on it and hold it in your hand and stand in line and wait. Of course there was limited time since Culver was so late arriving.

That's lame.

What is it with Democrats and always arriving late?

If Republicans pull that sort of shit in Iowa, let me know. I'll be happy to bash them, too.

Let's Treat 20 Year Old Adults Like The Children They Really Are

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Though the Iowa City Council members interviewed have different views on a proposed 21-only ordinance for local drinking establishments, they agreed the issue should be put to the community for a vote.

On Wednesday, City Clerk Marian Karr validated a petition from the Committee for Healthy Choices calling for the council to decide whether to make it illegal for those younger than 21 to be in Iowa City bars after 10 p.m...

...Now, the council must decide whether it will approve the ordinance within 60 days or add the issue to the Nov. 6 Election Day ballot.

Council member Mike O'Donnell said he would like to let the community decide what regulations to place on the city's bars.

"Let's see how it plays out," O'Donnell said Thursday. "It'd be very easy for the council to just say, 'Hey, it's going to be 21,' but I'd like to see how a majority of the city feels."

O'Donnell said that although he thinks the Committee for Healthy Choices has the best intentions in mind with its ordinance, he opposes it.

"My apprehension would be that we would create more house parties, and I think that would happen," O'Donnell said. "Also, I think there could be more people driving while intoxicated."

O'Donnell added that he thinks creating a 21-ordinance will take the problem of underage and binge drinking that is mostly centralized around the downtown bar scene and scatter it throughout the community.

I wrote on this topic yesterday ("War Age: 18, Drinking Age: 21"), but a commenter on Nicholas Johnson's blog yesterday probably put it best:

...all these self righteous "Do as I say, not as I did" Baby Boomers need to realize that prohibition did not work in the 1920's and won't today.

It's ironic how in a liberal town like Iowa City, the local politicians have to deal with the idea of legislating morality.

I don't understand the idea of allowing people under the age of 21 into a bar and then kicking them out at 10pm. That seems like a really weird compromise and a large part of the problem.

On the other hand, and this blog has stated this many times before, if legal adults at 18, 19, and 20 years of age 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 a bar and have a drink. Why are we treating them like children?


Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! Yes, I forgot "voting" in that list. Consider it added. Enjoy the rest of this insightfully vulgar blog.