Experience Schmerience

Nicholas Johnson has an Op Ed in the Cedar Rapids Gazette about the kind of "experience" a Presidential candidate should have. He isn't impressed with any of the choices on either side of the aisle, and has a bit of a longing for Bill Richardson.

Back in December 2006, I said this about Democrat Evan Bayh:

Out of all the prospective Democrats, I thought Bayh looked the best on paper: He's been a governor, so he's got executive experience. He got elected to the Senate in a Red State. He's a legacy, so he's connected. Bayh's been known to be more of a fiscal conservative.

Bayh endorsed Hillary last September.

Ah, well, it's fun watching the train wreck that is the current political process, isn't it?

Kind of like watching a guy on a bicycle, talking on a cell phone, and not wearing his helmet:

Saint Steven

It's time for the the media and the Catholic Church to proclaim Steven Sueppel, embezzler and mass murderer of his wife and four children:

SAINT STEVEN

From the Des Moines Register:

"To Steve, I want to tell you that we truly love you," said David Kesterson of Cedar Rapids, Sheryl's brother, as he cried. "That will never, ever change."

"Probably the easiest thing I've had to do all week was to forgive Steve," Kesterson said.

Wow!

Even easier than taking a shit?

The Rev. Ken Kuntz praised the family for that show of forgiveness. "How wonderful," Kuntz said of the decision.

Oh, golly gee, HOW WONDERFUL!

How full of bullshit can you get?

Well, try this:

"The scourge of mental illness leaves us bewildered, confused and, perhaps, angry," Kuntz added. "I don't know how or why Steve could do what he did, but I do know he loved his wife and children."

Yes, Saint Steven loved his wife and children, even while he was beating their brains out of their heads with a baseball bat!

And what sort of mental health evaluator is this on-the-take priest? How does he know that Saint Steven was mentally ill?

But we all know now that the guy was guilty as sin!

Or, if you ask the whored out nun, Sister Agnes Giblin, "...he just snapped!"

Look at how much pull rich lawyer William Sueppel has. He got the Bishop to attend!

Bishop Martin Amos of the Davenport diocese assisted in the two-hour Mass, which drew many other clergy from the area. "In many, many places, you are being lifted up in prayer," he told the mourners. "We help you cry. There aren't answers. Some things are just beyond you. You can't understand them."

He just snapped! He was mentally ill! Why, some things are just beyond you, you can't understand them!

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

The media and the Catholic Church have hit a new low, all bent over and taking it in the head for whatever William Sueppel wants.

Hail Saint Steven!

Tom "Electric Bus" Harkin

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 Cedar Rapids Gazette:

You have until 1 p.m. Monday to bid online for nine city buses, all of which have less than 25,000 miles; three have less than 10,000 miles.

As of Friday night, the top bid on the auction site GovDeals.com was $18,000 for the whole shebang, all nine buses.

The caveat: The winning bidder has to move the buses.

So goes the final chapter in the city's grand experiment in electric-powered buses, a venture that floundered from the start before going bust a few years ago — but not before $2.65 million in mostly federal dollars was spent to buy the nine buses and another $7.5 million in federal funds went to support and operate the program.

For about the last three years, the mothballed buses have been sitting in a fenced-in lot along railroad tracks in northwest Cedar Rapids.

All the while, City Hall has worried that it might have to pay back the Federal Transit Administration about $2 million, the amount the federal government contributed for the buses' purchase.

As Brad DeBrower, the city's transit manager has said, federal transit officials expect the buses they help buy should run at least 12 years and log 500,000 miles. The Cedar Rapids nine had "scary low" mileage, as DeBrower put it.

This week, though, DeBrower was happy to report that the transit administration has given the city permission to sell the buses without penalty. Federal officials, DeBrower said, concluded that newer technology has passed the buses by and the city shouldn't be faulted for the experiment's demise...

...The city's experiment with electric buses began in 1993. It was launched in 1996 as the Cedar Rapids Electric Transportation Consortium, with the city, IES Industries, Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Blue Bird Corp. all signing on.

Two federal grants totaling $7.5 million helped finance the project to see whether electric batteries could fuel a fleet of buses in a place with cold winters. They could not.

In a Gazette story last summer, Fred Rossow, a senior electrical engineer at Rockwell Collins who worked for the city and managed its electric bus program from 1998 to early 2005, said the chief problem was that the buses' electronic drive system never worked correctly. The batteries were a problem, too, and the battery packs weighed two tons and could not be changed out easily, he said.

Rossow said the city eventually found quality batteries made in Germany, but the United States entered a tariff war that put the cost of German batteries out of reach for three to four years.

He also recalled that the city's bus mechanics and drivers came to hate the electric buses because they broke down so often along routes.

And who was responsible for wasting all that money on this?

(The media never tells you that part of the story, do they?)

Senator Tom Harkin, that's who (via Citizens Against Government Waste from 1996):

$6,150,000 added by the Senate for projects in the state of Senate appropriator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa): $4,280,000 for equipment and facilities for buses; $1,200,000 for the Cedar Rapids hybrid electric bus consortium; and $670,000 for the Waterloo intermodal bus facility.

If I were Republican Steve Rathje, I'd be buying those buses and using them against Harkin in a major way.

You know, maybe paint the phrase "I happen to be a supporter of earmarks, unabashedly" on the side, along with Harkin's face, and drive it around to campaign events.

Poor Cedar Rapids. It tried to be a "National Example" for Democrats in the 1990s. Things didn't quite work out, did they?

Steve Sueppel Wasn't A Cokehead, So Where Did All That Money Go?

From the Daily Iowan:

Investigators are saying a drug addiction is not a convincing explanation for the embezzlement of nearly $560,000 by former Hills Bank & Trust Vice President Steven Sueppel.

The 42-year-old reportedly told investigators in October 2007 he used most of the money he allegedly stole from the bank to purchase cocaine. However, Iowa City police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said officials do not think that was the case.

"There were search warrants done last fall in connection with the embezzlement, and in none of those searches was any indication or evidence of the illegal drug use or trade by Steven Sueppel," he said...

..."It became very apparent when they were asking him questions that he had absolutely zero knowledge of drug use or trade," Kelsay said.

There is no evidence that explains exactly how the money was spent, he said. Sueppel had "no fancy toys in the garage," and he did not drive expensive cars, Kelsay said.

The Sueppel residence, 629 Barrington Road, has an assessed value of more than $343,000, the Iowa City Assessor website shows. Sueppel's wife, Sheryl Sueppel, had not been working full-time since they began raising children, Kelsay said. In addition, all four of the Sueppel children - ages 3, 5, 8, and 10 - were adopted from overseas.

"That in itself isn't inexpensive," Kelsay said, adding that the family also occasionally gave money to various groups and foundations in town.

I don't know why the media is always quoting the assessed value of the house, but then people in the media are pretty stupid and don't understand the difference between what you owe on a home, what the market value is, and what the tax man thinks it's worth.

Anybody can go out to the Johnson County Auditor's web site and see that Sueppel had a 30 year mortgage on the house for around $245,000 from a few years ago, as well as a $25,000 second mortgage that appears to have been paid off a while back.

By the way, is anybody interested in buying a house that 5 people were murdered in?

I went out to Salary.com to see how much a Controller at a bank earned in the Iowa City area. The 25% to 75% range was between $128,398 and $195,419. He was also a Vice President, so tack on some extra money and likely a few bonuses here and there.

Sueppel's mortgage and taxes were probably in the $2000 to $2300 a month range. That's very easily manageable for somebody earning in the vicinity of $128,398 and $195,419 a year.

Iowa HIV Patients Who Can't Manage Their Finances Should Move To Illinois

From the Quad City Times:

Brian Clark of Davenport has a decision to make: Pay his mortgage, car payment and electric bill, or buy a one month’s supply of the medication that keeps him alive.

Clark, the manager of Mary’s on 2nd, a bar in Davenport, is one of several Iowa Quad-Citians falling through the cracks when it comes to getting help paying for his pricey HIV medications. In Iowa, a single person who makes up to $20,800 per year — or $10 per hour — can qualify for help under the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP.

In Illinois, there’s more money to go around, said Monica Wainwright, a case manager for AIDS Project Quad-Cities. In that state, a single person can make $40,840 and still qualify.

“I might have to move to Illinois, for God’s sake,” said Clark, who has insurance for prescriptions under Medicare Part D but who has fallen into the “doughnut hole.”

That means Clark is responsible for the next $3,808 worth of medications before the insurance company will begin to pay again. After that, he will have to pay only 5 percent of the drug’s cost until next year, when the cycle begins all over again. Clark’s premium for the drug coverage is about $110 per month. Before he fell into the doughnut hole, he was paying about $85.44 per month in co-payments.

But coming up with $1,200 per month for medication for the next few months is not easy when you have a house payment and a car payment.

It's not like he didn't know the "Donut Hole" was coming.

Liberal Dilemma

From the Des Moines Register:

An armed pizza deliveryman told Des Moines police that he shot a man who tried to rob him at gunpoint Thursday night outside a south-side apartment building.

When officers arrived at the Sutton Hill Apartments, 2100 S.E. King Ave., the pizza man, James William Spiers, 38, had both handguns, and the wounded robber had fled empty-handed.

The suspect, Kenneth Jimmerson, 19, was arrested when he later called for medical help. Jimmerson was hospitalized Friday with multiple gunshot wounds and faces a charge of first-degree robbery.

Melanie Stout, 18, who allegedly placed the pizza order, was arrested for conspiracy.

Spiers, who has a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon, escaped injury, although his bosses at Pizza Hut suspended him Friday until police sort out the details of the Thursday-night incident.

"We have policy against carrying weapons," said Vonnie Walbert, vice president of human resources at Pizza Hut's corporate offices in Dallas. "We prohibit employees from carrying guns because we believe that that is the safest for everybody."

Pizza Hut sure wants some bad publicity, don't they?

Not surprisingly, the 19 year old would-be thief has a record:

Jimmerson's criminal record includes arrests for carrying a concealed weapon and criminal mischief in 2007, harassment in 2006, and assault in 2004.

Naturally, the Des Moines Register reporter, Jeannette Lee, goes and interviews a couple of idiots over at Domino's Pizza and pulls the quote that satisfies the gun-grabbing Gannettoids:

Kimberly Babis said Spiers should not have been armed on the job, no matter what the safety concern. She said most drivers have the right to refuse a delivery if they feel it could pose danger.

"I don't understand why the pizza delivery guy had a gun," she said. "And even if the other guy was trying to rob him, it's a measly 20 bucks. At least that's how much our drivers have on them."

OK, where is the balance in this story?

Where is the quote from the conceal carry crowd? It's not hard to find them in Iowa. Where are the quotes from victim rights advocates who encourage working people to defend themselves from thugs and criminals?

The Des Moines Register hates guns and loves criminals. The Gannettoids don't want individuals to defend themselves from the vermin in society. Golly, we can't have that!

Whoring Out The Nun

Some have asked why I pulled some of the Sueppel posts. I was on vacation this week and attempting to blog from the road. News accounts of mass murderer and embezzler Steve Sueppel began to come out that he wasn't taking money for cocaine. He just cooked up the story to his bosses because he was a pathetic liar. So I pulled the posts and got on with enjoying some time off.

Then the story came out that Steve was going to be in the funeral with the rest of the family he murdered at some Catholic church in Iowa City. Everybody I have talked to thinks this is downright bizarre.

I guess that Sueppel family have been whoring out some nun to the media at every turn, saying what a good boy little Steven was. It's enough to make you sick.

Don't believe me?

They marched out Sister Agnes to the Des Moines Register real fast to explain it all. Why, "he just snapped!"

Excuses, excuses.

Read this Chicago Tribune story and check out the Sister Agnes Giblin quotes. Gosh, little Stevie's demeanor sure turned dark once he started being questioned about stealing $600,000 from the bank he worked at as a Vice President and Controller.

Ya think? Maybe because he was guilty?

How about this KCRG story? Oh, little Stevie cared so deeply about his children!

What the fuck? So deeply that he would steal money, lie about it, and then kill his family?

Worst of all is this ass-licking hagiography by Brian Morelli in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Do you REALLY think Sheryl Sueppel and her children would have wanted to have been buried next to the man who murdered them?

What set Steve Sueppel off that night?

Of course we can guess at what set Steve Sueppel off that night. He didn't just murder his family out of the blue, as the Sueppel-controlled media likes you to believe. I bet little Stevie and the Mrs had been fighting for months.

Sheryl had been a stay at home mom for years. He had a cushy job at a bank making good coin. Now he is facing 30 years, $600,000 in restitution, lawyer fees... you name it.

She probably was sick of the phony Sueppel facade. If you read stories from the families, they all say the family had been with them on Easter weekend and hadn't noticed anything unusual. How quaint and convenient.

She probably told him she was leaving. That she couldn't handle it anymore. That she was taking the kids and moving in with her parents or somewhere else. They'd lose the house anyway. And where was all that money he stole? You think he's going to tell her?

Whatever happened, surely there was a fight.

"You can't leave me and take the kids!"

So whoever the rest of the Sueppel family is, they know a few things about control what with daddy being a lawyer and all. They sure know how to put up a facade. Whore out the nun to the media. Typical patriarchal bullshit, if you ask me.

There's a big story out there and the media is willfully missing it.

No Big Love For The Big Lug

From the Radio Iowa blog in a post titled "Governor Culver draws ire of Democrats in Iowa Senate":

Governor Chet Culver issued a statement today, about eight minutes before the Iowa Senate was scheduled to begin debating a bill that would expand the scope of contract negotiations for union employees in state and local government in Iowa, including school teachers. Here's what the governor said in his written statement...

...At about 12:15 p.m. this afternoon, Senator Jeff Angelo, a Republican from Creston, was reading aloud from Governor Culver's statement, getting to the phrase "and practicing sound fiscal management" when Gronstal yelled "point of order."

"A point of order's been raised," Senate President Jack Kibbie said to the 50 senators. "What's your point?"

"Mr. President are we on press releases or are we on amendment 5190?" Gronstal asked.

The upshot of this was that Republicans went into a closed-door "caucus" -- it's a private meeting in a room behind the senate chamber.

As Democrats waited, Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg, was more adamant. During a chat with a group of reporters, Kibbie suggested Culver would find it hard to win re-election if he were to veto the bill.

A few moments later, a group of senators standing near the Senate press bench was joking among themselves. One joked that after the vote is taken this evening on the labor bill, the Senate Ways and Means Committee will be meeting to pass a bill which would raise Iowa's gas tax. As you may recall, Governor Culver has said now is not the time to raise the gas tax. Seems Democrats in the Senate aren't very happy with their governor today.

See what happens when your legislative body is full of one party and the executive branch is held by the same party? There is no harmonic convergence. Just anger and bitterness!

Who needs a weak-ass Republican opposition, anyway?

And now for this morning's entertainment: Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac!

The Irony

From the Des Moines Register:

Typing "Iowa" into a Google search brings up several paid-for links to hotels, restaurants and even a custom cabinet company in Carroll.

Those links earn revenue for the world's largest online search company, but they also offer an opportunity to give back.

Google held a daylong seminar here to explain how companies, agencies and nonprofits can use search terms to get the right patrons to their Web sites. The company promoted AdWords, a paid-for service that brings up links to a business based on the words typed into a Google search.

Next week, the Des Moines Register will be giving lessons to their reporters on how to shoot themselves in the foot!

Seriously folks, are the reporters and editors at the DMR so dumb that they would write and publish a story about how businesses can do advertising online via Google and not the Des Moines Register? Yes, they are.

The Gordon Fischer Thing

Via the Real Sporer and Jake Tapper's blog at ABC News, here's Gordon Fischer:

"B. Clinton questions Obama's patriotism. In repsonse (sic), an Obama aide compared B. Clinton to Joe McCarthy. This is patently unfair. To McCarthy.

"When Joe McCarthy questioned others' patriotism, McCarthy (1) actually believed, at least aparently (sic), the questions were genuine, and (2) he did so in order to build up, not tear down, his own party, the GOP. Bill Clinton cannot possibly seriously believe Obama is not a patriot, and cannot possibly be said to be helping -- instead he is hurting -- his own party. B. Clinton should never be forgiven. Period. This is a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica's blue dress."

Even though Gordon kant spel, or at least doesn't know how to use spel chek, he is correct about the legacy of Bill Clinton. Fucking around on the job with an unpaid intern subordinate, especially when you're the President, is unforgivable.

Fischer has since gotten down on his kneepads and apologized not once but twice to the Clintonistas, lest they be tempted to commit Arkancide against Fischer.

I wonder who put the pressure on Fischer, who just a year ago was excitedly predicting that Tom Vilsack was going to be the next POTUS.

Did It Make The Top Ten?

It seems like every newspaper in Iowa is rolling out the "Top Grisly Multiple Murders" list following the recent incident in Iowa City.

The Des Moines Register has a list that, for me, triggered a few bad memories:

DES MOINES, February 1978 -- Three West Des Moines youths, Gerald Hoffman Jr., 15, his brother, Geoffrey, 14, and Jeffrey Beavers, 14, were shot in a downtown Des Moines building they were cleaning

I remember hearing the phrase "execution style" being used back then to describe the scene. It has stayed with me.

Also, the Christmas Eve 1968 murder of 10 year old Pamela Powers, and the subsequent Brewer v Williams case.

Some shit you never can forget, as much as you want to try.

But You Have Made That Unnecessary

From somebody posting a message at the Iowa City Press-Citizen web site concerning the Sueppel family murders and Steve Sueppel's suicide this morning.

I was moved to tears by this:

We would have like
to have offered your wife our condolences,
but you have made that unnecessary.
We would have liked to bring her pies
and casseroles,
to have filled the house with food that no one had the stomach to eat.
We would have liked to try to
distract your children from their
small, private hell, from the agonies of your
absence,
by doing something useless and mundane with them,
like taking them to the moveies, though it all would have wound up
reminding them of you anyway -- grief makes itself known in all venues.
But you have rendered that impossible.
And it is not only them we wished to comfort.
There was also you.
You in your former glory; you in your fallen state.
You are not unique in your shame and suffering,
though it was natural for you to feel that you were.
But we have all known disgrace.
We have all lied, stolen and cheated in one respect or another.
We have all cowered behind the dark shadows
of our worst actions, dreading their discovery.
We will, though we will not wish to,
all live through something that we thought we could never bear.
For some of us, that will be today.
And I am angry at you, yes,
though I did not know you and your family,
though I'd never darkened your doorstep
and now never will.
Because I would have liked to have ruffled
your son's hair when he batted my son home in a t-ball game.
I would have liked to have complimented
your wife on her dress when I passed her
at the grocery store.
I would have liked to buy Girl Scout cookies from your daughter
and then cursed her irresistability when I ate the whole box myself.
I would have liked for you all to go on,
for you to go to jail -- if need be-- and return
to the fold, restored, redeemed to your family and community.
But if you could not have borne that sentence,
if your human heart could not endure that agony,
then I would have liked for
them to go on,
without you,
for them to have been the ones
who got to make that choice.
I would have liked to have rung your doorbell,
to say to your wife, when she opened the door, with a tired swipe at a loose lock of hair on he forehead,
the four children sitting stunned and bewildered
on the sofa in the living room off the hall,
"You don't know me, but I am sorry for your loss,"
and to have awkwardly shoved my famous meatloaf
in her folded arms,
a small bundle of something far less than joy,
"I hope you and the children are o.k."
I would stammer, dropping a basket of dinner rolls at her feet,
cursing my own ineloquence and the absurdity
of using a word like "o.k." at a time like this.
And she would smile wanly and graciously,
I imagine,
if she could.
But she can't.
And there will be no pies or meatloaves or casseroles
or doorbells ringing.
You've taken care of all of that.
There is only crime-scene tape,
and the muffled sound of
other mothers of other children
weeping quietly all over the city,
on this,
the first gloriously sunny spring day
of 2008.

So I Guess Black Preachers In Waterloo Think HIV Was Invented By The Government To Kill All Black People

Black preachers in Waterloo explain it all:

The shock and distaste expressed by Americans, many of them white, at comments made by the pastor of the church attended by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama illustrates how wide the country's racial divide remains, leaders in the black community said Saturday.

During a roundtable discussion on religion and politics aired on KBBG-FM and co-sponsored by The Courier, Rep. Deb Berry, D-Waterloo, said reaction to snippets of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons have generated little surprise from her black constituents.

"Most of the African-Americans I talked to say, 'Well, what did he say that was so wrong? Did he lie? He's telling the truth," she said. "So my question is, 'Are we still in two Americas?'"

The Rev. David Wood, pastor at First Presbyterian Church, said comments that generated the most angry responses need to be seen in context. Wood referred to the suggestion the U.S. government intentionally exposed black people to AIDS, and Wright's "God damn America" quote.

"People think here's a man who's completely condemning America. Well, no, here's a man who fought in the Marines, here's a man who's said over and over again he loves this country. But he's right to be suspicious of what he has seen in the country," Wood said.

Wood noted Wright grew up in a segregated society. He said one of the reasons many blacks are suspicious of the government is because for 40 years, until 1972, public health officials in Alabama refused to treat a group of black people for syphilis even after discovering a cure. Instead, they chose to watch the disease run its course in order to study its effects. The black men were never told they had syphilis. President Bill Clinton apologized for the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1997.

So was Wright telling the truth when he said "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color." ?

Oh, you don't want to answer that, do you? Change the topic over to that "Two Americas" bullshit or that "the government lied to black people 40 years ago" stuff.

What is the damn chip on the shoulder of all these old black people?

Seriously!

If you hear a young black person spouting this nonsense, they're either smoking a crack pipe or mentally insane. But if you're old and your family grew up in the 1950s and especially if you're a preacher then that gives you an excuse to go around and talk bullshit about white people and the government.

Get over it, you old farts.

Let the next generation take over. We're not gonna put up with any racial bullshit.

Morgan Freeman had it right. The only way to end racism is to quit talking about it.

Banker Kills Family And Himself Thanks To Judge Thomas Shields

Looks like that embezzler in Iowa City decided to kill his wife and four children before getting in the family minivan this morning to drive himself into a sign post on I-80 and die in flames.

Meanwhile, last month in the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

An ex-vice president of Hills Bank & Trust who is accused of embezzling more than $500,000 over a 7 year period pleaded not guilty to charges against him on Wednesday.

Steven Sueppel, 42, of Iowa City, appeared in Iowa Southern District Federal Court in Davenport with his attorney, Leon Spies, for an initial appearance.

After judge Thomas Shields read the charges against Sueppel, which include one count of embezzlement and six counts of money laundering, the court proceeded with arraignment.

Sueppel pleaded not guilty to the charges and also denied an eighth count, which requested Sueppel forfeit any money and items related to the charges.

The court has alleged that during a seven-year period, Sueppel embezzled $599,040 from Hills Bank. He also allegedly laundered a total of $13,500 from Aug. 23, 2007 to Sept. 17, according to his indictment.

Shields said he could schedule Sueppel’s trial for March 31, 2008, but due to the amount of documentation in the case, he scheduled the trial to begin April 21. A pre-trial conference will be held April 7 and the deadline for attorneys to file motions is April 4.

“We’ll talk about trial readiness at the pre-trial conference,” Shields said. “We’ll see where we’re at.”

Spies also requested that his client not be detained until his trial date. Based on his clean criminal history, Shields did not object to the request and said Sueppel is free on a $250,000 personal bond. Sueppel does not have to pay anything on the bond unless he violates conditions of his release.

Shields also ordered that Sueppel not carry any firearms or use any drugs. According to a search warrant filed by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Sueppel allegedly told bank officials he used most of the $219,000 he took over a three-year period to purchase cocaine. However, Spies said that illegal drug use was not a factor in the case.

“Drugs have absolutely nothing to do with this case,” Spies said after the court appearance.

Sueppel also told the judge he is currently working for a concrete company. Shields ordered him not to handle any cash or checks for the business. Sueppel is also subject to a random home visit by a probation officer.

If convicted, Sueppel faces up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years probation for the one charge of embezzlement. For each of the six counts of money laundering, he faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of at least $500,000 and three years probation.

Judge Thomas Shields fucked up.

Big time.

He needs to resign immediately.

Speaking Of Pathetic

From the Des Moines Register's Letters section this morning:

While I find it sad that the Russell Community School will be closed, I see a greater tragedy in that none of the pathetic reasons that the State Board of Education gave for closing the school had anything to do with whether or not the students received a good education.

- Tim VanderPloeg, Altoona

Pathetic reasons?

The reality is a little bit more complex.... and mostly kind of obvious.

This is from Radio Iowa back in December:

A south-central Iowa school district is one step closer to being forced to shut down after the State Board of Education voted Thursday to continue it's review of the organization. A financial review of the Russell School District in Lucas County showed the district is projected to spend $500,000 more than they are authorized to spend, which prompted the state board to begin what's called a phase two review. That review turned up many more problems...

...Among the other deficiencies found in the department review: teachers teaching courses they weren't certified to teach, missing or incomplete personnel records and a fleet of school buses that failed state inspections 69% of the time. Jeffrey says some of the deficiencies are "probably correctable" in the near future, while she says some are "much more serious", such as the projected budget deficit and managing the financial future of the district...

...Another issued raised by the board, was the Russell district's rate of open enrollment out of the district of 43% in the 2006-2007 school year -- the state average is 5%. The Russell district listed an enrollment of 154 students for this school year...

What a train wreck.

Those aren't pathetic reasons to dissolve a school district. Those are obvious reasons!

What are taxpayers to do, shell out another $3300 per kid while the district is being horribly mismanaged and half the students decide to go elsewhere for an education?

More letters here. In one of the letters it describes the town of Russell is a "rival community" of Chariton, the school district 7 miles away that will take on the remaining Russell students.

Rival community? WTF is that? Did they once have wars? Skirmishes? Ethnic cleansing? Jeezus, talk about small town bullshit boiling over......

Weekend Roundup

The appropriately-named Alma Gaul in the Quad City Times goes on about a bunch of "global warming" nonsense, even after how cold and snowy this winter has been! In the story, Patricia Keir, the chancellor of the Eastern Iowa Community College District, offers up the preposterous lie that "Human activities are responsible for the problem (global warming)." Is it any wonder why LEE stock is down 67% in the past year? Who wants to read that garbage?

Also, in the QC Times, the State of Iowa is giving out $350,000 in loans and tax benefits to some cabinet-building company in Davenport in order to create 11 jobs. I love how the Times mentions that "The company is 50 percent employee-owned" because you wonder who owns the other 50 percent. The taxpayers of Iowa? Ha! Not quite!

According to the Des Moines Register, the Iowa DHS screwed up again and another kid got killed. I wonder if Governor Big Lug will shit all over the relatives who complained about DHS the way Tom Vilsack did with the relatives of 5 year old murder victim Evelyn Miller?

Via the Cedar Rapids Gazette: It's rare, but usually when some shitbag from Chicago gets arrested in Iowa they usually end up in Fort Madison. Luckily, this stupid murderer is going back to Illinois.

Also in the CR Gazette, Iowa City and the Quad Cities will soon get streaming video of traffic on I-380 and I-80 via the high bandwidth portion of the 511ia.org web site. Down here in Kansas City, we've had this stuff for a while.

Poor, poor Cedar Rapids. They couldn't get Ozzy. Gee, better tear down that old money-losing cement barn and put up another insanely expensive giant carbuncle so you can compete with all the other money-losing cement barns in the region for the same old shitty acts who want to charge $75 for you to see a stupid rock concert.

Finally, some hope for the world via the Iowa City Press-Citizen: “I still say in America you have more choices and chances,” she said. “If you don’t have them, you can create them.”

Now to destroy everything about Easter, here's the late great Bill Hicks:

The Gimp

IowaHawk explains it all.

The Democratic Party: Organized Chaos

Rachel Graber in an opinion piece in the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

The recent Johnson County Democratic Convention was plagued with negativity...

...During the convention, there were two topics that seemed to arouse the most hostility and conflict: Clinton vs. Obama, and Israel vs. Palestine. To be honest, the first situation was one that I was able to face without strong emotions. I was told by an Obama supporter that Clinton is a ruthless monster and by a Clinton supporter that Obama is (horror of horrors) a Muslim (and, incidentally, would turn the United States into a Muslim theocracy)...

...The conflict between Israel and Palestine was a much more emotional situation for me because it is something in which I am highly invested. By the time this issue was raised for discussion, of course, most people had gone home. Only people worried about platform issues stayed to the end of this unusually long convention. When the Israeli-Palestinian topic was introduced, organized chaos ensued, ending with a shouting match.

There's also that poll in Pennsylvania going around where supposedly 20% of Obama supporters and 19% of Hillary supporters would shift to McCain if their particular Democratic candidate doesn't get the nomination.

I wonder how many would shift to Ralph Nader?

Unless something really weird happens in the next five months, like a serious kiss-and-make-up session, the civil war is going to continue.

But Hillary will never concede. NEVER! Period. End of discussion.

If Obama concedes, his future political capital is blown. He knows that.

It's gonna be fun to watch this train wreck, unless you're a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, that is.

Now for your morning's entertainment, Harrison Ford in The Fugitive:

A Small Crowd

A "small crowd" of 7 to 9 year olds protested the Iraq War in Osage.

Newspapers sure were desperate to cover the "anniversary" by going to the usual useful idiots, the extremely small number of professional protesters (here and here and here).

Newspapers and TV stations won't cover any news from Iraq, unless it's negative of course. And they won't cover anything about our troops, unless it's politicians exploiting them for political posturing.

Let's face it. Newspaper editors in Iowa hate the military.

Why else would they behave this way?

Fuck the Troops, indeed.

Help Wanted: War Protesters In Iowa City

"War Is For People With Small Penises" (Photo credit: Ed Bornstein, Daily Iowan)

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Aside from a few short breaks, Ronald Kinum planned to spend about 18 hours on the east side of the University of Iowa Pentacrest on Wednesday, holding signs opposing the Iraq war.

He arrived with a few others at 6 a.m. Just after noon, Kinum went home to get a chair so he would be more comfortable sitting until midnight near the corner of Clinton Street and Iowa Avenue.

He was among an often sparse group of protesters holding a vigil at the high-visibility corner throughout the day to mark the war's fifth anniversary.

"Somebody has to make a showing publicly that there is dissent against it, even if it's just a few of us," said the 59-year-old Iowa City resident, who served in the Army from 1971 to 1974.

Holding signs reading "war is not the answer" and "no more blood for oil," the group ranged from two people to 15 at times during the day

Last August, after the University of Iowa was in session with 30,000 students, the anti-war crowd could only manage 33 protesters.

The May before? About 50.

January 2006? Around 45.

Anti-War Warmonger Dave Loebsack's Office Gets Protested In Cedar Rapids

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Today's noon-hour protest, organized by Women for Peace Iowa, drew about 75 people at its peak to the Wells Fargo branch at 150 First Ave. NE, which also houses the local offices of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and Congressman Dave Loebsack.

A delegation entered the building, placing 2,000 small boxes folded from flag-patterned paper along the narrow hallway to Loebsack's office. They also delivered a message to Loebsack's staff: End funding for the war.

Wow, 75 people in Cedar Rapids.

How big is that area, about 150,000 people with Marion and Hiawatha?

That's something like 0.0005% of the local population protesting the war.

Allegedly anti-war Loebsack already voted to keep funding the war.

And just two months ago Loebsack came back from Iraq and declared "The Surge" a success.

Ha ha ha ha ha, you anti-war fools. You think because you voted out a Bush-hating, PAC-refusing, tax-raising, anti-war Republican that you were going to get something better in Loebsack because he is a Democrat? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

It's Not A Party

From the Des Moines Register:

Two anti-war protesters were arrested today inside the Armed Forces Career Center on Des Moines' south side.

Kirk Brown, 25, and Ed Bloomer, 61, were taken to the Des Moines police station. Officers said they would be questioned, checked for warrants and issued citations...

...They are accused of blocking the hallway to recruiting offices at the career center, 5921 S.E. 14th Street in the Stoney Point Plaza...

...Eleven people, most of them members of the Des Moines Catholic Worker Community and the Catholic Peace Ministry, occupied the offices...

...Frank Cordaro, a member of the Catholic Worker Community, said they were mourning the fifth anniversary of the invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq.

11 people protesting the war in Des Moines.

A new record low!

Just remember: It's Not A Party Until Frank Cordaro Gets Arrested.

Obama's Crazy And Racist Preacher Buddy Got Award At OJ Simpson College In Indianola In January

From the Des Moines Register:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who in the past couple of weeks has become America's most famous - some would say notorious - preacher, did not get a lot of attention when he came to Iowa in January to receive an award.

Oh, people at Simpson College in Indianola knew that Barack Obama's long-time minister and spiritual guide was outspoken and controversial.

That's probably one of the reasons they presented Wright with the first Carver Medal, named for Simpson's most famous former student, George Washington Carver.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who in the past couple of weeks has become America's most famous - some would say notorious - preacher, did not get a lot of attention when he came to Iowa in January to receive an award.

Oh, people at Simpson College in Indianola knew that Barack Obama's long-time minister and spiritual guide was outspoken and controversial.

That's probably one of the reasons they presented Wright with the first Carver Medal, named for Simpson's most famous former student, George Washington Carver.

Then the tapes of some of Wright's sermons at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago surfaced.

There's the "chickens are coming home to roost" tape, in which he suggests to the cheers of his congregation that America asked for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. And sermons in which he calls America the "U.S.K.K.K.A." and says the government concocted the AIDS virus to wipe out people of color. And the one in which he repeatedly yells, "God damn America."

Here's what Simpson President John Byrd said when the Carver Medal was announced: "Jeremiah Wright's dedication to service through the church makes him an ideal candidate to receive the college's first Carver Medal. Through the church's ministries, Wright provides leadership, serves the disadvantaged, and offers inspiration and hope to the community."

Obama is scrambling to contain the damage to his campaign caused by the Wright mess. Simpson administrators remain comfortable with their decision to honor Wright.

"Regrets? No regrets," said John Fuller, a spokesman for Simpson.

And no, those who selected Wright had not seen the disturbing sermon tapes.

"Nobody around here picked through everything he'd ever said," said Fuller.

I tell you what's a disgrace, this bald cracker running OJ Simpson College giving awards in the name of a great man like George Washington Carver to a stupid ass America-hating racist preacher from Chicago.

What is Jeremiah Wright's major achievement? Suckering in Barack Obama and his angry wife for the past 20 years and amassing a congregation of 10,000 idiots in Chicago who likely eat up shit like: "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color."

That's It, I'm Never Voting For Obama

From the Quad City Times:

Democrat Barack Obama on Monday promised Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans help with their grievances — save one.

``I know it drives you nuts. But I'm not going to lower the drinking age,'' the presidential candidate said.

Army veteran Ernest Johnson, 23, of Connecticut, said one of the things that peeved him before he turned 21 was that he couldn't come home and drink a beer — even though he was old enough to serve in the armed services and die for his country.

Obama told Johnson he sympathized, but that setting the legal drinking age at 21 had helped reduce drunken driving incidents and should remain.

Meanwhile, in Iowa City, 61 year old chronic drunk driver and Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett is preparing to run for re-election.

How's Davenport Alderman Ron Van Fossen doing since he checked out of alcohol rehab at age 63?

Des Moines City Manager Rick Clark was 57 years old when he was picked up in 2006 for drunk driving.

Mary Ann Dilla, the President of the Ames School Board, getting busted for drunk driving at age 52 in 2005.

Iowa Speedway President Stan Clement was arrested for drunk driving at age 57.

Then-40 year old Davenport 6th Ward Alderman Bob McGivern blew a 0.17% after picking up a pizza at Happy Joe's in 2005.

How about the then-37 year old volunteer firefighter who was caught drunk driving the Springville Fire Truck with nearly double the legal limit in him in 2004?

Oh, and kill a man and injure his wife while driving drunk? A judge in Johnson County will give you a suspended sentence if you're 50 years old.

Yeah, Obama, I hear ya man. Those drunk driving laws really work.

What were you for? Change, or something? I guess you got sidetracked having to deal with that "Hate Whitey" preacher you and your angry wife have been going to for the past 20 years.

Sorry, bud. If you're 18, you're an adult. End of story.

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, the now-teetotal Alice Cooper! With eventual but now-late Iowa resident Glenn Buxton on guitar!

Zero Sum Game

From the Tax Update Blog:

The $516 million in tax incentives in 2007 is more than the entire net receipts of Iowa's corporate income tax. If tax incentives were any good at economic development, we'd be better than last place in Iowa as a home for entrepreneurs. A zero corporate tax rate could benefit everyone, not just the well-lobbied. That may be why there isn't any lobby for a zero corporate rate.

That just drops my mouth to the floor.

Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Yeah, imagine what a zero corporate tax rate in Iowa would do for business if there was no taxpayer-financed corporate welfare coming out of the Iowa Legislature. Minnesota and Illinois would declare war on Iowa, for certain. Missouri, too. Nebraska, as well.

What states have no corporate tax in the US?

The answer is state, not states. Just one, South Dakota.

Just remember that Ted Waitt, after being turned down by numerous Iowa banks, convinced his grandmother to put up a $10,000 CD as collateral so he could get Gateway Computers started in the Sioux City area in 1985. Waitt later moved the company from Iowa to South Dakota because of that state's lack of personal or corporate income taxes.

Think about all the others that got away.

Oh, no, you can't even begin to imagine the list.

And the thing is, even if there was somebody to lobby for a zero corporate tax rate for businesses in the State of Iowa, there would be some Commie-Socialist nutjob pounding on in the Des Moines Register about the evil corporations and their ill-gotten profits and about how kids are going hungry or some such crap.

But see, isn't it great? We have bi-partisanship in the Iowa Legislature on the matter! That's more important than promoting the general welfare.

These clowns in Des Moines just want to promote taxpayer-financed welfare for some companies. Never mind the rest of the companies out there trying to earn a living.

If the taxpayers of Iowa weren't so dead between the ears, they'd be causing this to happen:

Back Then Hoes Didn't Want Me. Now I'm Governor Hoes All On Me

Can you imagine The Big Lug frequenting high dolla hoes or having a MMF gayway?

No, you can't.

Chet may be a little stupid at times, but he's no George Ryan (the Illinois former-governor now prison-bitch) or even Jesse Ventura (Minnesota's former-governor who admitted frequenting cheap whores in Nevada and the Philippines while in the military).

Dumb trumps criminal or mouthy any day of the week.

Zero, Zero, and Zero

John Deeth has a rather excellent post about what happened this past weekend with the Democrats in Iowa and how a large part of the lamestream media didn't really understand what happened.

It's Not A Party Until Frank Cordaro Spams You

Via the email:

Dear Peace and Justice Friends;

Got your e-mail address from David Goodner. This is a one time e-mail
message to invite you to take a look at the three e-mail news service
list that we maintain at the DM Catholic Worker. Many of you are
already on one or more of our list. The three list are:

Iowa Peace List
This list is maintained to send out news and updates about peace and
justice activities in Iowa.


STRATCom /Offutt AFB List
This list is maintained to send out news and updates regarding the End
STRATCom campaign.


A National Catholic Worker List
This list was created following the October 2006 National CW
gathering in Iowa. It is managed by Frank Cordaro and the DMCW. It is
used to post info. and updates regarding Catholic Worker events and
topics of interest to CWers and their friends.


If you wish to be added to any of the above list e-mail
XXXXXXXXXXXX and you will be added.

Frank Cordaro
Phil Berrigan CW House
XXXXXXXX Avenue, Des Moines, IA XXXXX

Remember, it's not a party until Frank Cordaro gets arrested!

Why all the spam after the recent Puff Piece in the Waterloo Courier?

Race To The Start, Race To The Finish

Nicholas Johnson in the Des Moines Register:

As president, Bill Clinton used to talk about those who "work hard and play by the rules." He and his wife are still working hard. They just don't want to play by the rules.

The Democratic National Committee's rules for this primary season - agreed to by all - were that the penalty for additional states moving their primaries earlier would be the inability to have their delegates seated at the party's national convention. Candidates were not to campaign or otherwise participate in such states' primaries. The nominee would be whoever got the most delegates (elected and super) from rules-abiding states.

Florida and Michigan gambled that their ultimate role in candidate selection would be greatest by violating the rules, thereby gaining the impact of earlier primary results in exchange for sacrificing the ability to seat their delegates.

Like the choice of "buy, sell or hold" in the stock market, it turned out they sold when they should have held. Their originally scheduled times would have given them real leverage. Now they're left raking through the rubble, searching for the "least-worst" way out.

You've got to wonder if some states aren't considering moving forward their primary and caucus dates, or at least moving them somewhere in the middle just in case there is a real horse race like the Democrats have this year.

It wasn't all that long ago when the DNC was denigrating Iowans by basically calling them a bunch of honky-ass whitey crackers for having the first caucus and supposedly not being a "diverse" enough state. Of course, a majority of those honky-ass whitey crackers in Iowa chose a Halfrican-American man as their candidate, so I wonder what the DNC race baiters will use as ammo against whitey in Iowa in the future.

I think it would make a lot of sense (weather and political overload, to start with.....) for states to move their primaries and caucuses forward a few months. Iowa in March and April is a lot better than Iowa in early January. Just take the whole schedule and move it forward two or three months. Where's the harm in that?

This year also shows the Democrats that front-loading and anointing doesn't result in a guaranteed win. Not everything goes as planned.

The Republicans must be full of glee with watching the Democrats chew each other up. Hillary won't give it up (has she ever?) and Obama stumbles day after day as the magic wears off and the reality of his naive policies are trickled out in the alternative media.

If anything, "conservative" Republicans are used to being let down with a RINO playa at the top of the ticket (face it, Bush 43 was never a fiscal conservative and he only paid lip service to the social conservative side of things), so the "conservative" wing of the Republican party need some time to let the thought of "KY McCain" settle in.

If you're a political junkie, this sort of stuff is fascinating.

Crooked Law Professor Kenneth Kress Gets His Law License Taken Away For A While

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday suspended the law license of a former University of Iowa law professor who doctored student evaluations of his classroom performance.

The court ruled that Kenneth Kress, 56, intentionally altered three student evaluations that gave "negative or neutral" reviews to raise his overall score and suspended his license "with no possibility of reinstatement" for at least three months.

Kress, a nationally renowned expert on mental health law, was a professor at the UI College of Law from 1989 to 2006. In April 2004, he distributed a questionnaire to 10 students in a mental-health law class, then replaced three of the evaluations with three he had completed. Switching the papers raised his composite score from a 2.86 to a 4.86 on a 5.0 scale.

Kress later told officials that he had exhausted his supply of Risperdal, a drug used to treat bipolar disorder, and was suffering from hallucinations that led him to believe the reviews were "a matter of life and death."

Justices conceded that Kress' mental state impaired his judgment, but rejected his assertion that his behavior was completely unintentional.

Kress is such a liar.

Don't forget that the University of Iowa paid Kress $226,000 to go away after they discovered that he forged those student evaluations.

On what planet do you get paid to leave your job after you've been caught cheating?

Only in University LaLa Land do these scumbags and liars get treated with a bonus check.

Why? Because this arrogant asshole liar Kress had tenure.

That's bullshit.

That 30-member "Faculty Judicial Commission" who gave Kress his fat going-away check is bullshit, too. What a bunch of pansies. Which party do you think all those 30 members vote for when it comes to politicians? You know the answer.

Revisionist History

From the Iowa State Daily:

News of Iowa Student Loans' struggles are a clear and distinct signal of economic trouble looming over our country. Coupled with the continued, seemingly blissful, indifference toward the funding of higher education by our state Legislature, all signs point to the inevitability of this burden being placed on students.

In lieu of certain economic hardship, many students will be faced with the task of locating funds to begin or continue their education. It is time for our families to recognize that we are no longer in the boom times of the Roaring Twenties, or the administrations of Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. We now need the assistance of our extended family in paying for our educational opportunities.

Please forgive this future generation, for we must remove your coveted Laissez-faire and the surge-up … err, I mean … trickle-down economics of Andrew Mellon and Ronald Reagan. We love you! We won't become blood-sucking communists of the Third Reich, we swear. Please send money!

Anthony Freeman
Senior
History

The Economy Sucks!

Being broke is normal!

Blame the lender, not the borrower!

Vote for Hillary, she wants to get rid of evil student loan companies!

Have fun paying off your student loans with that History degree, Anthony! I hear there's quite a demand for your type - bagging my groceries!

Too bad you're not a hot babe. They have alternative ways to pay for things:

Stagger Lee

InMuscatine mentioned recently that Lee Enterprises stock (LEE) was trading in single digits.

Today the stock was down another 4.51%.

In the past year, the stock has plunged from $31.16 per share down to today's low of $9.52.

No wonder newspapers are saying that The Economy Sucks!

After Hours

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

The owners of an after-hours nightclub in Waterloo are exploring opening a similar establishment in Iowa City that would allow patrons to drink until 5 a.m. The City Council was just alerted of the proposal on Tuesday. It seems sure to spark debate in a city that has struggled with alcohol-related issues and is home to the University of Iowa, which has a reputation of being a party school. "We're certainly going to discuss it," Mayor Regenia Bailey said with a smile. Any discussion eventually may be moot. Co-owner Justin Smith of Waterloo said in an interview that he and his partners haven't settled on a location to open another club. They sent letters to several cities across Iowa as "feelers" to see what the reaction would be. "Obviously, when people hear about after hours and drinking, they think of trouble," he said. Smith declined to identify the other cities contacted. The letters went out late last week, and he said they have not heard back from anyone yet. In the letter to Iowa City, Adnan Mahmutagic, the Waterloo attorney for the owners, said the club would be open from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. As required by state law, patrons would bring their own alcohol and no hard liquor would be allowed... ...Iowa City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes said there was nothing in the city's code that would prevent the club from opening, although the city could explore ways to regulate such an operation.

You would think that the geniuses running the city government in Iowa City would have anticipated something like this happening and planned for it with the appropriate ordinances, right?

After all, Iowa City has been a nuclear weapon free zone since 1985.

More Depressing News About The Iowa Economy

From the Des Moines Register:

Iowa’s unemployment rate in January dropped to 3.6 percent, down from 3.8 percent in December and 3.7 percent a year ago.

That's the first paragraph.

You think that's good news?

Ah, wait until you read the relentless negative spin by "reporter" Donnelle Eller:

Iowa was one of only 16 states nationally to record decline from December to January, the U.S. Labor Department said today.

“The Iowa labor market grew at a moderate pace in January, while the national economy showed serious signs of faltering,” said Elisabeth Buck, director of Iowa Workforce Development...

...Iowa added 400 financial services jobs, despite national turmoil in the subprime market that’s causing companies to write-off billions.

The impact to the housing market, though, resulted in 1,000 jobs being lost in construction from December, the state reported.

Manufacturing also lost 900 jobs from December to January. Leisure and hospitality also lost 500 jobs...

...The annual average non-farm employment last year declined 5,300 to 1.516 million.

Where's the window? I need to jump out of it.

Oh, and don't forget, the housing market sucks in Iowa. Nobody's quite sure where yet, though.

I loved this little factoid, too:

The state said Iowa added 1,900 jobs over December, with 1,600 being added in trade, transportation and utilities, mostly retail trade. Another 1,600 jobs were added in government and 800 professional and business service positions.

Wait a second.

Did Donnellelleeller pass math class?

1900 jobs were added over December, with 1600 in trade/transport/utilities, 1600 in government, and 800 professional and business service positions.

1600 + 1600 + 800 = 4000. Not 1900.

And finally, this bit:

Here’s where Iowa lost and gained jobs compared to a year ago:

Government added 3,500 jobs; education and health services, 2,600; professional and business services, 2,300; financial activities, 1,800; other services, 800; and trade and transportation, 500.

Construction lost 1,400 jobs; information, 600; manufacturing, 500; and leisure and hospitality, 100.

State government is already Iowa's largest employer. Government produces things and is generally a good thing, right?

Do you remember who Iowa's second largest employer is? Well, they are evil. Sure, they were a good thing at one time, but today they are capitalist Republican pigs so it's OK to steal from them. Besides, how can you lead a middle class life when this evil company pays a two-income family basically the median income for Iowa? For crying out loud, they charge a whopping $4 for most generic prescription drugs! No wonder health care is so expensive. I blame George W. Bush.

Steve King's Name Has Secret Codes In It

From Radio Iowa:

Congressman Steve King made some comments... on KICD Radio in Spencer which have been picked up and written about by the Associated Press...

Here is the text of what King said: "I don't want to disparage anyone because of their race, their ethnicity, their name, whatever the religion of their father might have been. I'll just say this, that when you think about the optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected president of the United States, I mean, what does this look like to the rest of the world? What does this look like to the world of Islam?" King said Friday during an interview in KICD studios in Spencer. "And I will tell you that if he is elected president, then the radical islamists, the al Qaida and the radical Islamists and their supporters Will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11th."

And here's more, specifically regarding Obama's middle name: "It does matter. His middle name does matter. It matters because they read meaning into that and the rest of the world, it has special meaning to them. They'll be dancing in the streets because of his middle name. They'll be dancing in the streets because of who his father was and because of his posture that says pull out of the Middle East and pull out of this conflict. So there are implications that have to do with who he is and the positions that he has taken. If he were strong on national defense and said, 'I'm going to go over there and we're going to fight and we're going to win. We'll come home with a victory,' that's different, but that's not what he's said. There will be dancing in the streets if he's elected president and that has a chilling effect on how difficult it will be to ever win this global war on terror," King said.

I bet Republicans didn't know this, but Steve King's name has secret meanings too.

For instance, the surname "King" can trace its origins all the way back to the county Devon in England. Some history on the area:

Devon was one of the first areas of England settled following the end of the last ice age. Dartmoor is thought to have been settled by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC.

So, as you can see, Steve King hails from a long line of inbred cavemen.

A "King" is also a male monarch:

The word monarch comes from the Greek , meaning "one ruler," which referred to an absolute ruler. With time, the word has been succeeded in this meaning by others, such as autocrat or dictator

It is especially poignant as Steve King electively rules over an extremely politically-safe district for him (the Fifth District) in Western Iowa.

In addition, I bet you didn't know that Steve King's middle name is Arnold. It's true, and that name has a special meaning to Iowans:

Bitch Set Me Up

You all know that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer got busted in some hooker scandal today.

Spitzer was due for some kind of corruption after his and Hillary Clinton's incredibly misguided attempt to give criminal illegal aliens drivers licenses.

Why it was just a few years ago when Spitzer was doing some good work as the Attorney General of New York when he busted Clark "Spinner" McLeod, the former head of McLeodUSA out of Cedar Rapids.

This is from Telephony Online:

Feb 13, 2006 10:40 AM, By Ed Gubbins

Clark McLeod was found guilty of conducting improper stock trades in the late 1990s while he was chief executive officer of competitive carrier McLeodUSA, a judge ruled late last week.

The suit, filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2002, accused McLeod--along with former telecom CEOs Bernie Ebbers, Joe Nacchio and others--of awarding investment banking business to Salomon Smith Barney in exchange for shares of companies that were about to conduct initial public offerings (IPOs). The practice is known as “spinning.”

According to Spitzer’s complaint, Salomon advised McLeodUSA on about 16 investment banking deals between October 1997 and January 2001, billing the competitive carrier nearly $50 million in fees. A month before McLeod’s first investment banking deal with Salomon, he received his first pre-IPO shares. He would receive 31 more through September 2000, selling them over time for a total of more than $9.4 million.

Meanwhile, Salomon research analyst Jack Grubman, who met with McLeod’s directors at their request in mid-2001, advised his clients to buy McLeodUSA stock between June 2000 and October 2001.

McLeod failed to disclose the details of his IPO allocations and the nature of McLeodUSA’s relationship with Salomon, Spitzer’s complaint reads, thus breaking the law.

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, Justice Richard B. Lowe III of the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan called McLeod’s spinning "a sophisticated form of bribery."

"Spinner" later paid a $4.4 million fine.

Oddly enough, it was during basically the same timeframe that McLeodUSA mid-level manager Ron Speltz exercised his company stock options (worth about $700,000 to $800,000 before gain and taxes) but didn't sell them until the next year after the stock had crashed and burned because he was just too damn stupid to realize what the hell he was doing. Following a painful IRS bill, Speltz later whored himself out to idiots in the media who broadcast his tale of self-inflicted woe nationwide.

Is everybody just about a goddamned idiot anymore?

Corporate Mallfare

From the Des Moines Register's Opinion section:

Des Moines has reason to be worried about the decline of its retail base. It also has reason to be worried about its high property taxes. Thus the city has a dilemma in deciding when to spend the latter to shore up the former.

That dilemma is squarely before the Des Moines City Council tonight with a request from the owners of Merle Hay Mall for $5.6 million in city tax money to help pay for a $12 million renovation of the mall.

The council should not reject the request out of hand, but the city should first create a comprehensive development plan for the Merle Hay area before committing that sort of investment of public money in the mall.

Do you think there was any sort of "comprehensive development plan" by the City of Des Moines for Merle Hay Plaza before it opened in 1959? I bet not. If there had been, the crystal ball would have predicted that retail shops and car dealerships located in downtown Des Moines would vacate for the suburbs over the next 25 years. Who would have wanted that?

And how much money have the taxpayers spent trying to "revitalize" downtown Des Moines as a viable retail location since then? Billions, for sure. All down a rathole.

Now the Des Moines Register wants to basically rubber stamp taxpayer money going to subsidize an old shopping mall in a foolish attempt to "compete" with Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines.

How much in profits have the owners of the Merle May Mall extracted from it over the past 50 years? Maybe they should use that money instead.

The Housing Market Sucks Somewhere In Iowa

The 705-ton Murillo apartment building, being moved to a new location in Des Moines last weekend; the largest building relocation in the US ever done.

From the Mason City Glob-Gazette:

If you put your house up for sale in Mason City, you can expect to sell it in four to five months — and for more money than you would have gotten a year or two ago.

“It’s an active market — not dynamically active, but active nonetheless,” said Dave Guetzko, president of the Mason City Board of Realtors.

The statistics back that up.

In the last six months of 2007, 231 homes were sold in Mason City compared to 230 in the same period in 2006.

Another look shows the average sale price was $113,195 for all of 2007, compared to $109,240 in 2006 and $106,479 in 2005.

That’s a different scenario than one being played out in other parts of Iowa and across the nation where subprime loans have caused a foreclosure epidemic and plummeting sale prices on houses...

...Foreclosures or the threat of foreclosure often force homeowners to sell for far less than they paid for their properties. Iowa ranks 14th in the nation in foreclosures over the past year — but bankers and Realtors alike say Mason City and North Iowa have avoided problems felt elsewhere.

OK, then. Mason City and North Iowa's housing markets are just peachy.

Where else in Iowa is all this depression and catastrophe in housing market occurring?

In February, in Iowa City, the housing market was deemed by the local newspaper and officials as "strong".

In Muscatine, 2007 was tough but in 2008 "things are already looking brighter."

The Davenport real estate market is "stable".

The President of the Dubuque Board of Realtors is "optimistic" for 2008.

Three days ago the Des Moines Register said "there's no cause for panic in Ames or Story County."

In February it was reported in the Register that the housing market in Grimes was up and that people were buying in Clive.

The Council Bluffs market is "in better standing than national trends indicate."

Bondurant and West Des Moines have seen increases in housing permits.

And while there is a decrease in the rate of growth of new housing permits in Des Moines, as well as a decline in value after a considerable increase the past few years, city governments aren't expecting any budget problems from what one would suspect might be decreasing property tax revenues.

Er, and how about Des Moines?

February 12th, Des Moines Register, headline "Des Moines' West Side Staves Off Housing Downturn".

February 12th, Des Moines Register, headline "Des Moines' East Side Staves Off Housing Downturn".

February 12th, Des Moines Register, headline "Des Moines' South Side A Leader In Housing Growth".

Homes sales in Iowa were only down 3% in 2007 from the year before. January sales in Des Moines were way down from the year before, but real estate experts said:

"Some weekends, weather stopped open-house traffic," said Joanne Mangold, manager of Iowa Realty's Altoona office.

It's hard to get out to shop when temps are subzero, there's a foot of snow on the ground, and the streets are all ice.

Really, the question needs to be asked: Where's the crisis?

But when you look back at how newspapers perceive things, the Iowa economy has been sucking for years.


Related: The Stupid Economy and The Economy Sucks and It's The Stupid, Economy!

Broke Is Normal, Part 2

Concerning yesterday's post Broke Is Normal, "Independent" writes in the comments:

So students should go into professions they don't have a passion for, don't have a talent for, but can "afford" to go into? Or students should pick a profession that's "needed" and ignore their personal wants for their own lives?

I agree with 90 percent of what you write, but this post is the dumbest thing you've done in a long time.

Listen, I write a lot of dumb and obnoxious things, but I'm fairly passionate about the issue of teenagers and traditional college age students trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives before going $20,000 or $50,000 or $200,000 into debt.

I'm also annoyed that so many parents don't save a dime for junior's college. It really doesn't make any sense to me. Just because the parents might have had to take out loans decades ago doesn't mean they ought to saddle their children with the same burden. After all, a lot has changed in the past 25-30 years of higher education. The price of tuition at most in-state universities (and private colleges) has gone up at three to four times the rate of inflation for the last 15 years or so.

A lot has changed in the world of investing in the past 30 years. No-load mutual funds became easily available to the middle class by the late 1970s. UGMA/UTMA accounts hit in the late 1980s, although they were kind of a dumb idea for college accounts. Now we've got 529 plans. There are so many good options for investing these days, and the bull market of the past 25 years has reaped considerable rewards for those who managed to sock away some money every month into an S&P 500 Index fund.

But what I don't understand are parents who think the child should just follow their muse and go $20,000 to $30,000 in debt to get that political science degree over a six year timeframe. What positive lesson has been taught there?

I don't get this bogus slogan that education is an investment. It's mostly BS. It's like the notion that a diamond engagement ring should cost two months of the man's salary. If your engagement ring didn't cost two months of your salary, what are you? A slacker? Some kind of loser?

Apply the same thinking to education. Is it more noble to go $100,000 into debt at UNI to become a social worker? If you're $200,000 in the hole to become a lawyer and the best you can do is being a mouthpiece for the abortion industry in Iowa, why are you whining? Wasn't your education an investment???

Is it any different, really, than the issue of Ron Speltz, the clown near Cedar Rapids who exercised his company stock options but didn't sell them during the dot-con era because he stupidly thought the stock for an unprofitable company would go up and he'd save a few bucks on taxes? Now, suddenly, woe is him.

Or how about all those idiots who got into adjustable rate mortgages or 125% home equity loans when rates were at generational rock bottom levels? Now we're all supposed to feel sorry or somehow contribute to their mortgage payment because they're a bunch of morons who fell asleep in 10th grade math and who couldn't manage to handle an increase in their payments when rates changed? I'm sorry, but how much crap from Best Buy in in your house? How new are your SUVs? How was that vacation in Las Vegas?

Sorry about that. I got off course there, but perhaps you see my point. People do dumb things, and when it affects them financially they want somebody else to pick up the slack.

Industry basically tells you where the demands are. Agricultural sciences, medicine (human and livestock), engineering, and computers are the big shoes that need filling. Oh, I'm sure there are others. Trade skills are always needed: electrician, plumbing, HVAC, auto repair, etc. And you won't get rich with teaching, but if you don't go overboard with the student loans you could live a fairly OK middle class lifestyle.

Are these the kinds of professions being communicated to students in schools?

Do colleges and universities make an effort to not graduate so many people with almost totally unnecessary and worthless degrees? No, they don't.

Now, I agree that education shouldn't necessarily be focused on job-track situations. But let's be realistic here. I'm sure your kid loves watching American Idol, but they're not going to get on that show and become a glorified casino lounge singer. I'm sure your daughter loves to dance, but other than the Lumberyard where in Iowa are you going to make an honest living from it? Your teenage son may be into politics and debate right now, but there's only so many seats in the Iowa Legislature and those positions pay rather poorly.

What's the solution? Well, there isn't really a solution. Nothing's perfect, and people should be able to change their minds halfway through college or 10 years after graduation, and do whatever they find to love that will pay the bills.

What I don't want to hear is people who have made stupid decisions being profiled in the media and expecting the taxpayers to pick up their tab, especially students like the one in the previous post who thought being $20,000 or more in debt when you graduate is normal.

Broke Is Normal

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

The average student loan debt University of Iowa graduates owe increased by about $2,000 last year, but UI alums still finish school owing less money than their peers at Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa, a new report released this week shows.

Also, fewer UI students borrow money to pay for college: 61 percent of UI 2007 graduates had student loan debt compared to 73 percent at ISU and 78 percent at UNI...

...The average owed for those who graduated with student loan debt last May was $22,181 at the UI. Average debt also increased last year for UNI students, to $22,541.

The average debt of ISU students decreased slightly last year, but remained the highest of the three by far at $30,475. The national average in 2004, the most recent number available, was $19,202...

...UI freshman Sara Nester, 18, receives some scholarship money, but borrowed about $4,000 in federal loans this year. The idea of graduating with $20,000 in debt seems standard to her. And the nursing major, from Elmhurst, Ill., isn't worried about finding a good job after graduation.

"I've always thought it was pretty normal - most people take loans," she said.

Being broke is normal?

Coming out of college with $20,000 in debt and going into a profession (nursing) that is the lowest-paid in Iowa out of all 50 states is smart?

And what are you doing going to the University of Iowa if you're from suburban Chicago? Couldn't you get into UIC?

We should be encouraging parents and children to save money before enrolling into college, being realistic about a degree and career path, and then choosing a school or schools you can afford to attend - not just deciding that you're going to rack up $72,000 in debt in exchange for a $49,000 a year job.

Or $60,000 for a teaching degree.

Or $100,000 to become a social worker.

And you defintely don't want to get stuck by going into a dying industry, like journalism.

Of course, you can always become a lawyer. But if you end up borrowing your way through an expensive school like Drake and graduate with $200,000 in loans, about all you can do anymore is whine about how the government owes you - but only after you get a job working for the abortion industry.

Fas Trac or Read Nec?

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

A new program at City High is trying to make sure more black students have success in school.

Fas Trac has 22 students in its membership after starting in early December, director Henri Harper said. The program requires its members to maintain at least a 2.5 grade point average, work a part-time job to help save money for college, stay out of trouble and help out in the community. They also must meet with Harper and other advisors during the week.

Fas Trac???

The program may be a good idea, but that name has got to go.

Talk about pandering to the worst racist stereotypes. When white liberals pull this crap (intentionally misspelling words to "market" to black people), it's nothing but latent racism.

Do you think rural America would create a program to help out underachieving young white kids and call it Read Nec?

Surviving Funnel Week

From the Des Moines Register:

Here are some of the bills that skated through this week just before today's so-called funnel deadline:

I'll take them one by one:

DROPOUT AGE: Students would have to attend school until at least age 17 under House File 2144.

Or what? Go to jail? Right, like this is going to solve any "dropout" problem.

COLD MEDICINE TRACKING: A statewide instant verification system would track the sales of certain cold medicines in order to avoid a new spike in methamphetamine abuse under House File 852.

Hey, let's not do anything about the way 95% of meth arrives into Iowa, which is that it's driven in by criminal illegal aliens from Mexico. Instead, let's spend millions building some "verification" system that will drive up the cost of health care

NICKEL DEPOSIT ON BOTTLES: Consumers would pay a nickel deposit for water, juice, tea and sport drinks under House Study Bill 734. The deposit is already charged in Iowa on soft drinks and beer cans.

What? Newspapers aren't included?

What weighs more, a week's worth of Registers or a week's worth of water bottles and Pepsi cans?

What about Chef Boyardee cans? Campbell's soup? Concentrated lemonade? While we're at it, Iowa should just put a deposit on everything the grocery store sells since they can't tax food. Right? This is nothing but a backdoor tax on food. Lawsuits should be filed if this passes.

It's cheaper in the long run to invest in curbside recycling.

IMMIGRATION:All workers in Iowa would have to obtain a state-issued identification card to be employed under House Study Bill 717. The idea is to help curb illegal immigration.

Right, and those can't be forged. How much are "workers" going to be charged for this card? How many people will need to be hired to dole them out? What a joke.

ETHANOL PUMPS: A state grant program would help pay for pumps that blend ethanol so consumers can choose how much ethanol they want, between E10 and E85. Senate Study Bill 3198 would also boost incentives to retailers for increased biodiesel sales.

This will surely increase the costs of fuel for vehicles. All part of Vilsack's old plan to force taxpayers to spend $180 million on new pumps, which is essentially welfare for the likes of Bill Krause.

STUDENTS IN SPORTS: House File 2131 would shift control of sports eligibility rules to the State Board of Education. If the board gains power, it is expected to make high school students who open enroll into new districts wait a full year instead of 90 days before playing varsity sports.

This is the same State Board of Education who thinks athlete-students can achieve four D-minuses and one F and should still be eligible to play.

PENSIONS: The state won't put as much money into pensions as public employees are asking for, and judges would have to contribute more of their salary to the pension fund under Senate Study Bill 3244.

While you're at it, why not create a venture capital fund so you can gamble with state pension money? Better yet, just put slot machines in every state office. It's all a gamble anyway.

PROMOTING ATTRACTIONS: A total of $1 million would be used to market projects receiving money from the community attraction and tourism grant under House File 871.

You know what this means. It's gonna go to a bunch of local community projects, like when Vision Iowa gave nearly a million dollars to help build a new library in Coralville in 2005. No "tourist" is gonna go there.

HEALTH INSURANCE: Senate Study Bill 3140 would require that nearly all families have health insurance for their children by 2011. The House version, House Study Bill 757, would expand coverage to needy families but not require insurance for all children.

And if the parents choose booze, drugs, or gambling instead of health insurance for junior, then what? Will they be arrested? Will Hillary Clinton come and garnish their wages? And what if mom & dad don't take junior to the doc? Should government come by and forcibly remove them on a regular basis?

HEALTH WORKERS: People who go into health care professions that are underserved in Iowa, such as psychiatry and nursing, could get forgivable college loans under Senate Study Bill 3186.

Instead of trying to find a way to get the nursing profession's pay in Iowa out of last place in the country, the politicians want to give a way for the Democrats running the nursing programs at Iowa's universities a chance to jack up tuition.

GIFT CARDS: To make sure consumers can redeem the full value of the gift certificates they purchase, Senate File 2091 would prohibit sellers from issuing gift cards with expiration dates and ban them from charging fees.

Wow, finally a bill that I agree with!

ROAD REPAIRS: Registration fees for vehicles may go up to raise money for road construction and repair projects. House Study Bill 628 and Senate Study Bill 3267 raise various vehicle-related fees.

How about removing the break that city slicker pickup truck drivers get for hauling their $40,000 gas-guzzling vehicles to the mall? How about giving a break to people who have more fuel efficient or lighter vehicles? No way, not gonna happen.

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Sets a goal for Iowa utilities to have 25 percent of the electricity they produce come from renewable sources by 2025. House Study Bill 742 also sets an efficiency standard for a 1.5 percent annual reduction in energy use to all gas and electric utilities in the state.

I remember when, in 1990, the California Legislature had a goal that 2% of cars sold in the state would be emission-free by 1998 and 10% by 2003. Didn't happen, did it?

FOREIGN-MADE FLAGS: It would be illegal to sell foreign-made U.S. or Iowa flags under House File 2191.

That's just gay.

COMMISSION FOR BOOMERS: People nearing retirement age would be the focus of a Baby Boomer Generation Commission aimed as an economic and work force development tool for the state under House File 2038.

More expansion of government. This will, in 20 or 30 years be comprised of the same idiots who currently sit on the Generation Iowa commission.

COLLEGE MONEY FOR VETERANS: Veterans would be able to get a $750 one-time grant to help pay for undergraduate college studies. The grant in Senate File 2253 would be only for those who have exhausted their federal education benefits.

A ridiculously cheap way for politicians, particularly Democrats, to say they support the troops when they really don't. Look at that last sentence, for crying out loud. Total sloganeering.

MILITARY TAX BREAK: Many veterans would be able to avoid paying income tax on up to $20,000 of retirement pay received for their military service under House File 133.

That's a better deal.

COURSES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: High school seniors would have a new program to help them take college or advanced placement courses under House Study Bill 649.

Can't all high school seniors already take college or AP courses through the community college system in Iowa through concurrent enrollment programs?

SALARIES FOR NONPROFITS: Nonprofit groups would have to report compensation of some executives in various reports submitted to the Iowa secretary of state under House Study Bill 765.

Good.

INSURANCE ADVOCATE: An insurance consumer advocate office would be created in the state's insurance division by House Study Bill 737. Lawmakers may change the location to the attorney general's office.

Probably not a bad idea.

CORPORATE TAXES: Although some Democratic leaders had called the combined-reporting idea dead, there's now renewed interest in the proposal, which would tax out-of-state corporations on their Iowa operations.

Joe over at the Tax Update Blog was talking about this 5 years ago, but what the Iowa Legislature has been crafting he has called "combined nonsense".

PROTECTING MONEY FOR PARKS: A proposed constitutional amendment would state that money intended for natural resources projects could not be spent on other projects. Senate Study Bill 3250 would create a new natural resources and outdoor recreation trust fund for enhancing parks, trails, fish and wildlife habitat and conserving agricultural soil in the state.

Oh, another trust fund that politicians can raid down the road. Now I'm sure you're sitting there saying "State, the amendment will say that the money could not be spent on other projects!" Fooey! They always find a way around it with IOUs or other BS.

And that's my take on what has survived Funnel Week in the Iowa Legislature.

Ramona Cunningham's Trial Is Being Moved To Davenport

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.

Ramona Cunningham's trial is being moved to Davenport because even in Democrat-and-crony-filled Des Moines she can't get a "fair" trial.

Bill Kutmus, has a further tactic:

Cunningham’s lawyer already has said that he plans seek a delay of her trial based on Cunningham’s alleged inability to help him prepare for the case following an October suicide attempt.

Gee, too bad that suicide attempt wasn't successful.

You know, if she really want to kill herself she would have gotten the job done right the first time. I guess her abilities weren't like Bill Gates's.


Friday update: I can't wait to read Friday's comments.

They Don't Call Them Stupidertendents For Nothing

From the QC Times:

The Bettendorf Community School District superintendent is facing a drunken driving charge after a Thursday afternoon accident in Benton County, Iowa.

It is the second such charge for Marty John Lucas, 53. The first was in 1999.

Lucas declined comment through his attorney, Bob Gallagher. He has pleaded not guilty.

According to the police report, Lucas was southbound on an icy Interstate 380 about 5 p.m. Thursday when the 2008 Chevrolet Blazer he was driving and U-Haul he was hauling ended up in a ditch. The report said Lucas was not injured.

Lucas was taken to a convenience store in Urbana, Iowa, by fire personnel, officials said. A friend of Lucas’ took him back to the accident scene.

While the deputy talked with Lucas, he noticed an odor of alcohol, a police report said. Lucas admitted to drinking one beer with his lunch about 2 p.m. and nothing after the accident.

At 6:16 p.m., an hour after the crash, Lucas failed preliminary drunken driving tests. A breath test administered registered a blood alcohol content of 0.118. The legal limit is 0.08.

Lucas was named superintendent for Bettendorf in 2005.

He was arrested for drunken driving in July 1999 while he was superintendent in Charles City. He received a deferred judgment and a year’s probation. He was not penalized by the school district.

At the time of his hire, he talked about the arrest.

“It was by far the worst experience, professionally and personally, I’ve gone through,” he said. “I know that something like that will never happen again.”

Driving a vehicle with a U-Haul behind you down an icy interstate and ending up in a ditch?

That's bad judgment.

Drinking in the afternoon so that you're 0.118% BAC an hour after going in the ditch, lying to the police, and you're a public figure who is in charge of children?

Somebody had a problem in 1999 that needed looking after.

Now watch Craig Ferguson:

Local Option Tax Gets Renewed In Davenport

Maybe Des Moines doesn't have anything to worry about.

Davenport re-authorized their Local Option Sales Tax for another 10 years.

78% were for it. That's an improvement over the 54% who voted for it in 1999.

Gilbert Cranberg Is Still Mad About WFB

Whoa, look who woke up this morning and took an ASSHOLE PILL!

It's none other than the still-angry and still-former Des Moines Register Editorial Page Editor Gilbert Cranberg:

I fired William F. Buckley Jr. He did not take it well. When I canceled his column in the Des Moines Tribune in the 1970s he made an unpleasant fuss and misrepresented why we parted company.

Buckley and I had had a running back and forth about an issue of journalism ethics.

I told him he had an obligation to editors who bought his syndicated column, and to readers, to disclose his family's interests in oil when he wrote about the subject. Buckley said disclosure was necessary only if it could be shown that he had been inconsistent. I said that put the burden on editors and readers to ferret out inconsistency.

When we were at an impasse, and neither of us would bend, I canceled the column...

...When I challenged Buckley on the issue of his family's financial interests, I naively half-expected that it would lead to a high-minded exchange on the obligations of journalists to editors and readers. I got instead a lot of personal insults and attacks on my motives.

Did Buckley really believe, as he claimed, that I was out to destroy his column?

Buckley was a prolific writer who left a mark on journalism. As one who had a chance to observe his methods firsthand, the mark I saw was not all that sterling.

I swear, if any Conservative dies then the liberals come out of their hiding places and feel the need to beat the dead body a few more times. Don't they all?

Hey, Gil, it must suck to have spent all those years supposedly being relevant at the Des Moines Register, but then at the end of your life you don't even merit a Wikipedia entry. No wonder you're bitter.

Smells Like Barnyard Epithet

That's not water...

From the Des Moines Register:

Gov. Chet Culver on Tuesday vowed to keep pushing for local control of hog confinements, even as he acknowledged the idea lacks any traction among his Democratic colleagues who run both houses of the Legislature.

Addressing the nonprofit Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Culver said that if he had been in the Legislature at the time, he would have voted against House File 519. That 1995 bill set up a new state system of controls on livestock and assured local governments had no zoning power over the developments.

"That was kind of the beginning" of outcries over odors and toxic emissions, and frustration over local governments' lack of power, Culver told the group at the Wallace State Office Building...

I give Culver crap all the time, but he's 100% correct on this issue.

Some additional background:

In 1995, the Iowa legislature responded to increasing pressure from large livestock producers regarding the liability exposure faced under the common law of nuisance, and the Iowa legislature passed House File 519, which contained amendments to several agricultural-related statutes. The most significant and controversial being section 657.11, which provides that a person who has received all permits required to operate an animal feeding operation, functions under a presumption that the facility is not a nuisance. To overcome this presumption, the plaintiff must show by clear and convincing evidence that the facility constitutes a nuisance and is being operated negligently. This makes a successful litigation of a nuisance suit much more difficult for the plaintiff.

It's too bad the Democrats in the Iowa Legislature are in favor of families breathing stinky air.

And what about the enforcement side? If you spill 7000 gallons of manure into a river, get busted for constructing confinement buildings without a permit, and fail to implement pollution plans at nine different site containing over 50,000 hogs, well you just get a $50,000 slap on the wrist.

Government: In The Business Of Losing Money

From the QC Times:

The Bettendorf City Council voted Tuesday to lease space in the fledgling Life Fitness Center to a private company, but only after a spirited debate.

The council voted 6-1 to lease one of the center’s three basketball courts to Acceleration Sports, a for-profit company that specializes in training athletes. The center, which the city subsidizes to the tune of between $100,000 and $150,000 annually, will receive $3,275 per month, or $39,300 for the one-year lease.

Alderman Patricia Malinee, 4th Ward, cast the lone “no” vote. She said a group of physicians, Orthopaedic & Rheumatology Associates, already offer a similar service in the city and argued it’s not fair that a competitor would get to lease space at a “city” rate.

“We’re undercutting a business that is not taking any subsidy from us,” she said.

Well, then....

Maybe the Bettendorf City Council should offer some subsidies to the physicians as a way of saying "I'm sorry", don't ya think?

Would that smooth over the pain?

Let's get everybody hooked on the government welfare!

No, no, no, I'm being facetious here. At least Council member Malinee is saying the right thing.

The problem is that government builds the thing, not enough people visit it regularly for it to break even, and then they compound it by leasing space to a private company who is in competition with other regional businesses. That's all wrong no matter how you cut it.

I Now Pronounce You Democrat and Democrat

The Real Sporer and 24-Hour Dorman have different takes on Republican attempts to force debate on an Iowa constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

And, I guess, same-sex divorce. They never mention that aspect of it.

Christopher Rants is so dumb. He's just about the stupidest, most politically tone-deaf Republican to ever inhabit the Iowa Legislature.

Why does Rants have to constantly object? He ought to forever hold his peace and let the Democrats walk down the aisle and let Ted and Todd get married.

Nothing could be more politically damaging to the Democratic Party in Iowa than letting them create their own queer utopia.

Do Republicans want to pick up seats in the Iowa House and Iowa Senate? Do they want to take back Terrace Hill? Just don't stand in the way with these crazy ass constitutional amendments for something that is currently not allowed.

Let Chet have his, er, ah, legal rights.

And if Rants is against gay marriage, perhaps he should be for gay divorce! If you don't want gay people being married, then allow Iowa to unhitch them!

The Sluggish Economy Requires Iowa To Have 99 Casinos

William Petroski of the Des Moines Register:

Pressure is building on state regulators to expand Iowa's gambling industry at a time when existing casinos are being squeezed by new competition and a sluggish economy.

Petroski is obviously full of crap.

Gannett is fraudulently pushing this notion that the Iowa economy is in the toilet.

How the economy be "sluggish" when:

Overall, Iowa gambling revenues have increased in response to the four new casinos, totaling more than $1.3 billion for the budget year ending June 30, up 14.9 percent, state records show.

And just yesterday, Radio Iowa reported that Iowa sales tax receipts were running 11.1% ahead of last year's numbers.

State unemployment as of December 2007 was just 4%.

Does that sound "sluggish" to you?

Well, does it, Petroski?

Meanwhile, here's some spin for ya from the story:

Dennis Julius of Newton, who heads a group proposing a casino near the Iowa Speedway, shares those sentiments.

"You know, nobody likes to have competition move in, but we think that you could increase tourism by having more gaming in central Iowa," Julius said.

When you read this analysis by the Cummings Associates in 2003, you see that people who go to casinos in Iowa don't come from out of state, but instead are much more likely to visit the nearest facility.

And just wait until Iowa's casinos have smoking banned in them! It's gonna happen, I bet (pardon the pun). If it does happen, watch revenues go down in some or most casinos the year following the ban.

The Prophet Obama Is As Clean As The Wind-Driven Snirt

From the Hot Air blog, by Ed Morrissey:

It’s only the first day of the Tony Rezko trial, testimony has yet to be heard, and already the press has gotten to Barack Obama...

Gee, do you recall anything mentioned in the Iowa media about Tony Rezko when Barack Obama was campaigning?

Golly, was there anything the Iowa news media reported about Obama and Rezko during caucus season? I didn't notice anything.

Sure, the Clintons posed with and took money from Rezko, too:



But this blog was mentioning the name "Tony Rezko" back in February of 2007.

Where was the Iowa media?

(crickets chirping)

Now, oh, it's suddenly BIG NEWS that Tony Rezko and Barack Obama were buddies and property buyers and, well, you know how that Chicago politics thing goes.

Why, ooops! I thought Obama was clean as the wind-driven snow! Looks like he's about as clean as the wind-driven snirt.

The Economy Sucks

From Radio Iowa:

The Legislative Services Agency issued a report on state tax collections this morning. Click here to read the details. The condensed version? Through the first eight months of the state fiscal year (which began July 1, 2007), state tax and fee collections are running 11.1 percent ahead of the previous comparable period Some may suggest the increase in tobacco taxes which took effect nearly a year ago account for a lot of that, but according to Leiglsative Services Agency director Dennis Prouty, tobacco tax increases account for just two percent of that 11.1 percent.

Why, it was just 5 weeks ago when Democrat Representative Dave Loebsack was saying "The economy is in trouble. There’s no doubt about it, we have to act quickly"

Meanwhile, in the Des Moines Register today:

Iowa’s largest employers remain optimistic despite a rocky national economy, according to a survey by the Iowa Business Council.

The council said today its first-quarter Economic Outlook Survey Index was 66.3, unchanged from the fourth quarter...

...An index of 50 indicates an average business sentiment — above is positive; below, negative.

Seventeen of 18 eligible businesses responded to the survey used to build the index. The survey showed:

SALES: 13 businesses expect sales to be higher or substantially higher; three companies anticipate no change; and one company sees lower sales.
The same quarter a year ago, 19 of 20 companies expected higher sales, one saw no change.

CAPITAL SPENDING: 10 companies see higher or substantially higher spending; four see no change; and three businesses see lower or substantially lower spending.

A year ago, 10 of 20 companies saw higher capital sending; nine saw no change, and one saw lower spending.

JOBS: Nine businesses see higher employment; seven see no change, and one business sees lower employment.

That Iowa economy has been sucking for some time.

Good news! State government will be able to afford itself this year after all!

It's Not A Party Until Frank Cordaro Gets Another Puff Piece Written About Him In An Iowa Newspaper

The Waterloo Courier has a puff piece on Frank Cordaro, the "former priest" who is always getting arrested in the name of "social justice" or whatever.

As I've always said, "It's Not A Party Until Frank Cordaro Gets Arrested!"

There's a very small number of professional protesters throughout Iowa, but they always manage to make headlines. Cordaro's cellmate, David Goodner, the Jew-Hater and Gannett blogger, also had a puff piece written about his "social justice" activities in Sunday's Iowa City Press-Citizen.

I guess you can only write so many stories about snow and potholes before the Socialists working for the newspapers in Iowa go mad and decide to stick their friends the Commies and terrorist-lovers back in the microwave for another meal.

Will Scott County Voters Renew Their Local Option Sales Tax?

From the QC Times:

Scott County voters will decide Tuesday whether to continue giving their schools money for construction projects.

Education leaders in the Davenport, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley and North Scott school districts are asking residents to renew a 1-percent sales tax that generates a combined $22 million a year for the four districts. The 10-year countywide tax, known as the school infrastructure local option sales tax, is set to expire in 2009.

The districts use the funds to pay for building projects that include renovations to existing schools and the construction of new ones...

...To pass, the measure needs support from at least 50 percent of the county voters.

Voters first approved the sales tax in 1999, when 54 percent of those who cast ballots favored the measure. About 20 percent of registered voters turned out for the special election, which was held in March.

It will be interesting to see how the vote goes on this one.

Appanoose County voters voted down a local option extension last October. In Centerville the vote was 2-to-1 against renewal!

Just think. 10 years ago a majority of voters had approved the tax!

Wow, what happened?

I'll also be curious about the renewal vote in Polk County several months down the road, particularly Des Moines, where the Local Option tax passed in 1999 on the 4th try by only 43 votes and the Project Destiny sales tax increase lost with 80% voting against it last July.

Because voters haven't been approving tax increases due to distrust, fiscal mismanagement, and an overall feeling that government has gotten too arrogant and too fat, the Iowa Legislature and Governor Culver want to force an additional tax on sales in Iowa without voter approval.

"Students Don't Get Enough Sex Education From K12"

From the Des Moines Register's Letters section:

The University of Iowa offers 35 courses on sex ("'Sex' Fills Aisles at Iowa Colleges," Feb. 25).

Parents scraping to educate their sons and their daughters must be thrilled; education used to be about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Imagine their excitement when Johnny discovers in his gender-identity class that he is a woman, or when Susie brings home her lesbian lover.

"Students don't get enough sex education from K12," says U of I sex professor Sandra Caron.

I personally have had no formal sex education. My parents told me "Wait until you are married!"

I wish I would have listened to them.

- Dan Holman, Keokuk.

I immediately thought of:

The Circular Firing Squad

Clark Kauffman has quite a story in the Sunday Des Moines Register:

Nursing homes that last year were fined by the state for abusing or neglecting their elderly residents are this year collecting bonuses from an $8 million state fund created to promote quality, cost-effective care.

In some cases, this year's bonuses more than offset last year's fines that were levied by state regulators...

...A Des Moines Register analysis of the program shows that 23 Iowa nursing homes were fined $10,000 or more last year after inspectors from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals found evidence they were providing substandard care.

Of those 23 facilities, 16 are expected to collect the so-called performance-based bonuses this year from the Iowa Department of Human Services. DHS administers the Medicaid program, which pays for the medical care of poor people.

Two of the nursing homes that will collect bonuses are now on the federal government's list of the worst nursing homes in the United States. The two facilities are Blair House in Burlington, formerly known as Rosebush Gardens, which has been on the list for three years; and central Iowa's Polk City Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which has been on the list for one year.

This is insanity.

Here's what taxpayers should should be doing to the Iowa Legislature in Des Moines:

Des Moines Register Promoting White Trash Culture

The Register's Juice section has a big photo profile of a bunch of young white men and women and their ugly-ass tattoos.

Is anybody smiling? Maybe two or three out of the 32 people pictures. The rest all have these super serious looks on their faces. Ooooh, you're so tough! So hard! Oooooh, I'm scared!

You know, years ago only jungle people, a few guys in the Navy, or complete freaks got tattooed. Or Jews forced into concentration camps by the Nazis. Now there's a tattoo shop on every corner.

I don't get it.

You know, if I was young today, I'd be going into the medical field. I'd train to become a tattoo removal person. There's gonna be huge money in that maybe 5 or 10 years down the road when these idiots grow up and find they can't get a decent job because they look like circus freaks.