"The information has been verified, has been scrutinized by editors, has been fact-checked and proofed."

From today's Prague Daily Monitor:

The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is struggling to retrieve things lost in floods that hit the place two weeks ago. Various institutions have come up with an offer of help, including the Czech government.

The Des Moines Register wrote on Tuesday the Czech government would announce a gift of USD 1 million, citing Cory Crowley, president of the State Society of Iowa. Crowley also said the Czech government wanted to lend money to businesses in the historical Czech section of Cedar Rapids.

Speaking to the Czech News Agency (ČTK) later on, Daniel Nový, spokesman for the Czech embassy, said the Foreign Ministry had proposed that the government earmark money for the affected area, but he pointed out that the sum had not yet been agreed on.

"The sum mentioned in the Iowa daily is exaggerated," Nový told ČTK

From Tuesday's Des Moines Register:

The Czech government is expected to announce a gift of $1 million to help rebuild a Czech museum and Czech businesses damaged by flooding in Cedar Rapids, backers of an Iowa fundraising event said here Monday night.

Cory Crowley, president of the State Society of Iowa, said that the nonprofit group was contacted by the Czech Embassy here and was told that the government would pledge money to help repair the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.

What was it that super-sized Des Moines Register sports columnist Nancy Clark (now Nancy Stockdale) said in 2005 when she was bashing them newfangled bloggers?

Know that if the information is coming from the mainstream media -the accredited reporters, broadcasters and photojournalists -they are following strict professional guidelines that the looser outlets don't require. The information has been verified, has been scrutinized by editors, has been fact-checked and proofed.

Jay Leno

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

The comedy of funnyman Jay Leno took on an air of poignancy Wednesday night at a special show in Las Vegas to benefit the flood rebuilding effort in Cedar Rapids...

It wasn’t until the end of the show that Leno mentioned Iowa, when he thanked the audience for coming out so late. All proceeds from the 10 p.m. shows on Wednesday and Friday nights will go to the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation. The Wednesday show was nearly sold out, and at $90 a ticket that means about $100,000 for the rebuilding effort from that night alone.

Leno called Iowans “our own friends and neighbors.”

“I don’t see anyone in Iowa asking for money,” he said. “These people are not looking for favors. I don’t see anybody whining. I see people working hard, with shovels and brooms trying to clean the places. So hopefully the money from tonight and Friday – just thanks for coming out so late. It’s great to do this kind of show. Thank you for what you did folks.”

Wow!

Gay Prudes

From the Iowa State Daily by Nia Balvanz:

June is Gay Pride Month. Millions of people across the globe get together to celebrate their sexual orientations...

...A crucial part of the merrymaking is a pride parade, a fabulous spectacle featuring leaders of the community, floats, drum corps, demonstrations for equal rights and - almost certainly - nudity.

I have never participated in one of these parades, although I am definitely not shy about or ashamed of my sexual orientation. I just don't understand why I'm supposed to be so proud of an aspect of my sexuality that I would go out and stroll about, most likely painted and semi-clothed, with a large group of my fellow revelers.

First of all, why use the word "pride" to describe the festivities?...

...how do parades of scantily and unusually clad people send a message of acknowledgment of accomplishments and skills in things other than being able to decorate oneself in a socially deviant way? Why must pride parades equal exposed penises and breasts? Yes, there are more to these parades than nude people. But is that what gets the attention? No. Because public nudity is not the norm in our society, these displays serve more to titillate the bystander and enrage the conservatives more than anything else.

Pride Month was originally a recognition for those who fought - yes, fought - for equal treatment of the sexually "divergent." Over time it has evolved into a safe place and time for people to express themselves in ways not acceptable in mainstream society.

How can members of the LGBT community keep the free expression and move toward gaining tolerance and equal rights, as a minority group, without cementing their place in the shocking and shameful corner?

By putting the Speedos, dog collars, and leather chaps back in the closet????

You know, it's really only the mannish Les-beings who have an issue with flamboyance.

Now for this morning's entertainment, the Teletubbies:

Gonorrhea, Cha Cha Cha!

Philadelphia Bulletin, story headlined on June 25th:
"Arizona, Iowa To Turn Down Abstinence Education Funding"

Cedar Rapids Gazette, story headlined on June 25th:
"STDs reach all-time high in Iowa"

Queer In The Quad Cities

I can't even begin to quote this Quad City Times story ("Local gay pride day proclamations hit snags") in enough places to demonstrate all the dysfunction, name-calling, backpedaling, and excuse-making that's going on.

Don't these politicians have more important things to worry about there?

The Ducks

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette, this is sick:

CEDAR RAPIDS - Vandals stoned and beat to death about 50 ducks, including some that were just days old, at the Bever Park Children's Zoo overnight.

A zoo employee discovered the dead birds around 7 a.m. this morning. Some were floating in a pond, and others were piled up near a broken rake.

Dave Smith, the city parks superintendent, said whoever was responsible broke the lock on the front gate to the pen and broke into two of the three night houses where the birds are kept overnight.

They believe at least one person herded the ducks together while someone else did the killing.

"They stoned some to death inside the cage with rocks that were part of the landscape," Smith said. "Some of them ran into the water, which is what they would usually do for safety. Once they got into the pond, they stoned them in the pond."

As if Cedar Rapids doesn't have enough problems.

With animal killings like this, it's usually teenage or young adult males doing the crime. This won't be the first time they've been in trouble with the law. And it likely won't be the first time they've killed animals in this manner. Usually, these types of individuals are budding psychopaths and future murderers.

If somebody is arrested, will the public get a look inside their juvenile criminal record? I can just guess how many times the perps of this horrendous crime have been put on probation or released to their "parents" over the years.

I believe all criminal records should be open to the public regardless of age.

Wayne Ford Should Become A Concert Promoter

I was wondering how many comments were going to appear on the Des Moines Register story about State Representative Wayne Ford's stupid rant about why there weren't many black people performing at the Iowa State Fair.

As of this morning, there were 164 comments.

No big deal, though. This is typical race hustler talk, and that's all Ford is. The DMR eats it up because they all believe that whitey in Iowa are a bunch of racists.

Nevermind the facts, such as:

Wayne Ford is the clown who thinks high school student-athletes carrying four D-minuses and two F's is a reasonable standard.

Wayne Ford also believes that illegals should be able to get a driver's license.

Wayne Ford even believed that nightclub owners were discriminating against black people because certain types of clothing had been banned.

Even the late columnist Rob Borsellino said that Ford was "pretty far to the left."

Who do you think Wayne Ford would want to bring in to play? You think it would be somebody like Centerville native, opera great Simon Estes, or jazz great, Grinnell graduate and recent Grammy winner Herbie Hancock?

Nah.

Wayne Ford would want the type of nigga like Mike Jones, who showed up late in Ames and got paid $617 a minute to rap to a backing track at VEISHEA last year, to play the Fair:

Ramona Took A Deal

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 Des Moines Register:

Former job-training executive Ramona Cunningham has struck a plea agreement with federal prosecutors on charges that she conspired with others to misuse $1.5 million in taxpayer money.

The 53-year-old former director of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium was scheduled for trial July 8 on 30 charges of fraud and conspiracy. Her attorney, Bill Kutmus, on Monday confirmed the plea deal but said ethics rules do not allow him to divulge details...

...Prosecutors allege that nearly $2 million in public money was misspent over a three-year period, with much of it going to huge salaries and bonuses for CIETC's top executives.

William Kutmus, abiding by ethics rules.

Now, that's rich!

Really, now.

It's too bad Ramona didn't really try to kill herself. That would have saved the taxpayers a lot more money down the road. But since we all know that Ramona Cunningham is a phony and a fraud, I'm about 99.9999% sure that the GED-recipient and Bill Kutmus were just playing it up for shits and giggles.

....But Kutmus is going to abide by ethics rules and not tell the press anything.

That..... that may be the sickest thing I've heard in a long, long time.

I'm wondering how far the prosecutors bent over for Kutmus.

I bet she has to pay a fine, which she'll never pay. Because she's broke, remember?

And I bet she gets something like a 5 year sentence, of which she'll probably serve maybe a year or 16 months.

That would not surprise me. Ramona Cunningham is a Democrat, she made a lot of money, got Kutmus to defend her, and she never ratted anybody out.

Contrast this to Dixie Shanahan (now Dixie Duty), who shot her husband to death after he repeatedly beat her over a long period of time, threatened to kill her numerous times, and threatened to kill their unborn baby. Dixie's only crime, according to the rich bitches on the Iowa Parole Board, was not taking a deal, and she ended up with a 50 year sentence. Allegedly pro-woman and now-former-Governor Tom Vilsack sort-of commuted her sentence to a minimum of 10 years.


Dixie Shanahan (now Dixie Duty), after her first husband beat her up

Archie Crooks Still Handling Money

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 Des Moines Register:

Archie Brooks may be facing up to 27 months in prison for misappropriating money in the scandal at the Central Iowa Employment and training Consortium, but he is still handling money for a local nonprofit organization.

Brooks' primary employment is with the Ruan Center Corp., where he works as a company vice president.

But he is also the operations manager for the Des Moines Skywalk Association, a tax-exempt nonprofit group that is largely responsible for providing security in the downtown skywalk system.

The organization takes in about $450,000 annually, all of it generated by membership dues paid by downtown businesses...

...The skywalk association's attorney in 2007 was Jonathan Wilson of Des Moines, who at the time was also representing the reconfigured CIETC board of directors.

They all have their hands in everything, don't they?

LEE Crash

Lee Enterprises (LEE) closed at $4.60 on Monday, another new low.

Just a week ago it was $5.05!

Down 10% in a week!!!

Look at that long-term chart graphic!

McClathchy, who owns my local (Kanasas City Star), says ad revenue is down 15% this year!

And then there's this:

The industry will not bottom out for another three or four years, analysts predict. The question, Mr. Appert of Goldman Sachs said, “is how far things will fall before then.”

Meanwhile here's Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck in February 2007:

Lee Enterprises is poised for strength ahead as its newspapers maintain solid circulation while at the same time expanding their online components to extend their reach, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer told shareholders this morning.

“We at Lee are not buying the negative,” Mary Junck said of the “pot shots” that some pundits have taken at the newspaper industry. “It is not what we are seeing from our industry.”

...Across Lee, she said the newspapers are located in healthy, diverse markets and are the media leaders in their markets. Among the reasons for her optimism, she said, is Lee’s ability to maintain a solid circulation base, its big and growing market reach and its emphasis on revenue growth.

February 2007 was when the stock was $35.15.


Update 7:40am: Buster at InMuscatine believes a shakeup is coming.

James Hansen Is Bonkers

Former University of Iowa alum (B.A. in physics and mathematics '63, M.S. in astronomy '65, and Ph.D. in Physics in '67) and climate scare-ologist James Hansen has finally gone totally insane.

This is from The Guardian:

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable.

Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading.

In an interview with the Guardian he said: "When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that's a crime."

What's next?

Putting the heads of coal companies in prison? Natural gas companies? Propane companies?

Putting Ruth Harkin in prison?

Somebody put James Hansen in a straightjacket. The guy is completely nuts.

George Carlin Died

George Carlin died yesterday.

He was a huge influence on this insightfully vulgar blog:

"The Community College Heretic":



"Social Engineering Instead Of Education In DSM":



And my favorite, the "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV":

What Are Headed Towards "Divorce, Default, and Defeat?"

"Larry King's marriage, Ed McMahon's mortgage, and Barack Obama's campaign..."

If you haven't read Nicholas Johnson's outstanding, detailed, and very lengthy blog post "Change We Can No Longer Believe In" published this morning, do it now.

Why, it was just two months ago when I was ragging on Johnson for being uncritical towards Obama. Johnson replied to that one, and he had his reasons why Obama wasn't included, mostly because Obama (at the time) didn't take any money from PACs.

Now that Obama has rejected public financing of his presidential campaign, that's got to sting for Johnson. It renders his entire "Golden Rules & Revolutions" eight-part series incomplete, although I suppose "Change We Can No Longer Believe In" can now be considered part IX, the epilogue.

I hate to say "I Told You So" because I didn't.

But in a way I did.

Really now. Are any politicians different?

After all, when you see Ed Fallon is begging for cash......

I'm just sayin'....... BE SKEPTICAL, regardless of party affiliation, otherwise, as Johnson says:

But he has marketed himself as something more than that, something better than a conventional politician or manipulative "Pied Piper." So his every change in position, his every abandoned campaign promise, further alienates the supporters who are both disappointed and understandably surprised -- and when his behavior is repeated, ultimately discouraged, disaffected, distant and depressed.

Can you imagine Barack Obama flip flopping on the War in Iraq? Wouldn't that be the ultimate betrayal for some?

Well, it already happened back in 2004:


And then there's this:


And then there's his advisers:


Do you really think Obama is going to get the troops wholly out of Iraq?

Seriously, think about it.

You anti-war types are being played.

If Obama is going to flip flop on all these issues and throw long-time friends and advisers under the bus, why wouldn't he do it with what he's promised you regarding the War In Iraq?

What's Obama's big claim to fame? Oh, he was against the war from the beginning...... unlike John Kerry, who was for the war before he was against it.

Gee, if the Democrats could have just smoothed that little wrinkle out by having anti-war Howard Dean as the candidate in 2004.

Today, Howard Dean has his stand-in puppet. It's Barack Obama.

And if you vote against Barack Obama, you're a racist.

Well, Democrats have two months. And a backup plan. I guess it won't seem like Hillary "stole it at the convention" if Obama continues to tank.

Million Dollar Ripoff

From the Des Moines Register:

A grocery industry group says a program that allows welfare recipients to shop at Iowa farmers markets with food stamps has cost taxpayers nearly $1 million over three years for less than $60,000 worth of fresh food.

State officials acknowledge the numbers, but they say the cost also reflects indirect efforts to promote the entire food stamp program used by more than 255,000 people statewide.

The issue about the farmers market costs arose from a disagreement over the state's effort to end a separate 7-cent subsidy grocers receive each time an electronic food stamp card is used.

Iowa Department of Human Services officials have said the grocer subsidy, worth about $1 million per year, could be better spent.

Right.

The Iowa Department of Human Services clearly wants to take that million dollars is pays to grocery stores for processing food stamps on their behalf and instead burn even more money "marketing" farmer's markets to people on food stamps.

What a waste.

State government in Iowa needs to be weeded.

No, it needs to be destroyed.

Get the Roundup and start spraying.

Start with DHS.

Why I Hate Barack Obama

From Reuters via Yahoo:

"It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy," Obama told a fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid.

"They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?"

Yes, there's audio of him saying it.

You Democrats who seem to think that Obama is some sort of uniter, and some sort of agent of change..... I think you're all delusional if you still believe it.

This Barack Obama guy is worse than that elitist douchebag, John Kerry.

And while Obama has shown himself to be an elitist douchebag already to folks in rural and midwestern areas, now he has chosen the worst road to go down: race baiting Republicans, Independents, and Democrats who don't vote for him.

Barack Obama is threatening a race war. Pure and simple.

That's why I hate Barack Obama.

It's the company you keep, after all.

Obama has been friends with crooks, terrorists, and racists, over the years.

Obama will continue down his road of extreme hubris. He has so far this year.

Remember, it's still more than two months away from the party convention. There's lots of time for Obama's support to fall apart within the Democratic Party. It doesn't matter how many fake polls the media create.

And what's the media going to do? Gloss this over? Is that asshole David Yepsen going to ignore it? Who cares! You white Iowans area all a bunch of racists, anyway.

Just watch. White Democrats are going to flee in droves to McCain or Nader. They already were at the end of the primary season when Hillary kept winning states with landslide after landslide. Will they get called out by Obama, his angry racist wife, and the Howard Dean acolytes who are spinning this BS?

Is this the shape of things to come from the Obama campaign?

God help us all.

While I said at one point that I was voting for Nader, I have now changed my mind and I'm about 99.95% certain that I'll hold my nose incredibly tight and vote for Juan McCain after all. McCain is horrible, but he's far less horrible than this race baiter Barack Obama.

The 500 Year Flood Plain Myth + Stupid Spending

David in the comments on yesterday's post "Rebuilding It As Green Space" said:

Just to clarify what a "500 year flood" is, as well as a "100 year flood", the odds are that any given year there is a 1% chance of a flood that affects locations in the "100 year flood plain" occurring, and any given year there is between a .2% and 1% chance of a flood that affects locations in the "500 year flood plain" occurring. That means that on average, they will happen every 100 years or so (or every 500 years or so), but they can happen more or less frequently. Just because we had a 500 year flood this year, doesn't mean we can't have one again next year. The odds are very slim, though.

The fact is that Iowans who live along certain river basins have seen floods reaching the alleged "500 year" levels twice in 15 years. So, you know, they don't live in a 500 year flood plain as far as reality goes. They live in a 15 year flood plain.

The odds aren't 0.2% for them.

This isn't directed at David, who seemed to be merely correcting the odds from sound bites to actual fractions, but I just wish the media, the DNR, and scientists would stop talking about the odds and the clearly bogus "500 year" flood plains. The data isn't reliable. And past calculations are only based on data that's a few decades old.

I suppose my point is "Don't Be Stupid" about where you put critical infrastructure and buildings.

Which leads me to this story in the Cedar Rapids Gazette where Tom Harkin, Dave Loebsack, and White House deficit director Jim Nussle want $146 million earmarked lickity-split for the long-delayed Federal Courthouse replacement in Cedar Rapids. The current Federal Courthouse is located right next to the Cedar River, as will be the proposed new building, just a few blocks downstream:

So Harkin and 2nd District Rep. Dave Loebsack lobbied Bush and his budget director, former U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle of Iowa, to immediately replace the 77-year-old flood-damaged courthouse on the banks of the Cedar River at First and Second streets SE.

That would be a better use of taxpayer money than repairing the current courthouse and then constructing a new one later to meet the needs of the federal court for the Northern District of Iowa.

"We told the president — it was pointed to him on the flight, the helicopter flight — if you put millions into this courthouse, it's a waste of money," Harkin said. "So we need to move up this courthouse."

This is incredibly irresponsible.

It's stupid.

Where are the newspaper political columnists to hector Harkin, Loebsack, Nussle, and all these other crass dimwits who want to build a $146 million Federal Courthouse right next to a river which just severely flooded?

Last I saw, there was a dead mall in Cedar Rapids for sale at the bargain price of $18.5 million. Buy that and convert it. It's got acres of parking. Room to grow. Close to Highway 30 and a few minutes away from I-380 and the airport. Lots of shopping and restaurants around it.

Oh yeah, AND NO RIVER NEXT DOOR THAT WILL FLOOD EVERY 15 YEARS!!!!!!!

No, no, no. There's no way that government would be that smart.

Why can't we be smart in the future about this?

We can only tame the rivers so much.

I'm not saying turn downtown Cedar Rapids or the space near the Iowa Memorial Union into wetlands.

Just don't allow government to put all your eggs in the same wet basket.

Rebuilding It As Green Space

A reader to Nicholas Johnson's blog emailed him:

It wasn't until this flood that I realized how many of [Iowa City's] critical resources are in flood areas:

* The entire office complex for the Johnson County Administration Building
* The pure water processing plant
* The waste water processing plant
* The central University of Iowa Computing Center
* The Power Plant
* The Hydraulics Lab
* The entire source for steam (heating and cooling system) for the entire campus

If the above resources are knocked out, the entire city would need to be evacuated.

. . .

Some sports require large amounts of open space (and open green space) such as tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, football practice, and other such things. Why not have these in the low lying areas. Instead, the football practice field was high and dry while the critical infrastructure of Iowa City and the University of Iowa was under water.

Even worse is Cedar Rapids.

Just from memory, all of the following are next to the Cedar River or in the flood plain area:

• Fire department headquarters
  
• Police headquarters
• Linn County Courthouse
• Federal Courthouse
• Linn County Jail
• Library
• Public transportation (bus) center
• Science Station
• Art Museum
• African-American Museum
• Czech-Slovak Museum
• Mercy Hospital
• All four of the municipal water wells (three were compromised during the flood)
• Alliant's Sixth Street generating station
• Alliant's (electricity company) headquarters

There's probably more.

When Edgewood Rd has to close because the bridge was covered in water, many people were cut off from an entire side of town. The only way around is to drive to Palo (which was under water) or to worm your way downtown to I-380, which was crawling.

As you know, I no longer live in Iowa (I'm in Overland Park, Kansas, suburban Kansas City) and I talked with some people who were around when the 1993 floods affected Kansas City. They said the downtown airport was closed because of the Missouri River. It's just a regional airport for small planes or private jets. Most traffic goes to KCI, up north. Also troublesome was the Kaw River (aka Kansas River), which drains into the Missouri. Areas of Southwest Boulevard were underwater to the second floor, which is kind of hard to fathom. Lots of great Mexican food down there, I must say.

Update: Er, I wasn't finished earlier with my point there. I hit "Publish Post" instead of "Save As Draft".

Anyway, the 1993 flood supposedly closed the Broadway Bridge (next to the downtown airport) and part of I-70. That left one main vehicle bridge to downtown Kansas City from the North (the Paseo Bridge) and I guess traffic was insane. If you lived in southern burbs (like me) then it was no big deal. But it wasn't like the entire town's vital government functions were going to be shut down.

One of the comments on this post is about the I-380 bridge above the dam in Cedar Rapids. It's shocking to hear that the bridge was almost closed. That would have been a very serious problem for Cedar Rapids. Another comment said the detour to get from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City was hundreds of miles! Imagine if the I-380 bridge in downtown Cedar Rapids was damaged and had to be closed, in addition to all the other bridges being closed! Just going across Cedar Rapids (north to south) by vehicle would have taken an entire day. It's almost hard to comprehend. Do note that all hospitals in Cedar Rapids are located north of the Cedar River, and I-380 was closed where Coralville Lake meets it (on the way to Iowa City), so a significant portion of the population could have had no road access to any hospital in Cedar Rapids or Iowa City. That's a very very bad situation to almost be in, along with the hyper-concentration of governmental and infrastructure services in a floodplain area.

Cities really need to be concerned about building bridges that safely span waterways well in excess of 500 year floodplains. My god, the last thing you want during a catastrophic event is to be completely shut off.

Down here, Kansas City wants to replace the Paseo Bridge with one that is 150 feet taller. There were complaints by the downtown airport because the height was a concern, but that has been rectified. Luckily, the Paseo was never in any danger of being flooded at any time. I guess my point is that if you're going to have a bridge that's a major artery for a community, build the thing tall and make sure you've got lots of green space under and around it.

Ed Fallon: "I Walk A Lonely Road..."

This blog correctly predicted that Ed Fallon was going to lose in his attempt to wrestle the Democratic nomination away from Leonard Boswell.

Funny how you don't hear any Democrats waxing on about how being against the war is a political advantage. After all, Fallon is against all wars and Boswell voted for the war in Iraq.

Now, it seems, Fallon is begging other Democrats to bail him out of $35,000 worth of campaign debt.

I don't know why the Republican Party of Iowa doesn't approach Fallon and promise to pay off his debt in exchange for running as a hardcore, anti-war, left-wing independent candidate against Democrat Tom Harkin in November. That might look a little weird, seeing how the RPI has to throw money at yet another lousy Senate candidate (some loser name Christopher Reed).

But the RPI wouldn't pony up $30,000 to buy those 9 electric buses in Cedar Rapids at auction that Tom Harkin procured in the 1990's at a taxpayer expense of over $10 million. Those nine buses traveled a total of 200,000 miles (that's $50 a mile, folks). If they won't buy a legit campaign issue to run over Harkin with, why would they bother trying to get creative to siphon away the anti-war wingnuts?

Now for this evening's entertainment, an accordion played atop Green Day's "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"!

Thursday Roundup

Buster at InMuscatine keeps up with the Lee Enterprises Death Watch. That stock is opening this morning at $4.81, yet another new low.

I was wondering where Nicholas Johnson went.

Side Notes shows a picture of Highway 1 south of Mount Vernon. Or what little is left of it.

From the "You Don't Say?" department. Headline in the Quad City Times today: "Mosquito population expected to increase"

From the "And Now For Something Completely Different" department. Headline in the Quad City Times today: "Harkin praises FEMA’s flood response"

From "The Buck Stops Elsewhere" department. Headline in the Quad City Times today: "Culver: Federal government needs to pay for flood-fighting efforts"

From the "Bad Headline" department. Headline in the Daily Iowan: "Flooding leaves parents and 1-month-old on an air mattress"

Daily Iowan: "Renovated Carver arena may allow alcohol" - Why not allow gambling? Revenue is needed, you know.

President Bush is flying to a hostile war zone today (see the comments), although nothing could be more patronizing than Chuck Grassley's advice.

And if you missed yesterday's post called "IowaDrugCard.com Is Much More Expensive Than WalMart" then you are in for a treat, but only if you click over to there.

IowaDrugCard.com Is Much More Expensive Than WalMart

From the Mason City Glob-Gazette:

A new statewide discount drug card program called the Iowa Drug Card is now available to all Iowa residents.

The program, which is free to all Iowans, will provide savings of up to 75 percent on prescription drugs with average savings of around 30 percent. There are no restrictions to membership, no income restrictions, no age limit and no applications to fill out.

Iowa Drug Card is accepted at more than 50,000 national and regional pharmacies around the country. Participating pharmacies include Kmart Pharmacy, Walgreens, CVS/pharmacy Rite Aid, and Hy-Vee, as well as thousands of independent pharmacies.

Iowans can download a free card by visiting www.iowadrugcard.com

Anyone not able to access the Web site, or otherwise obtain a member card, can visit any Kmart Pharmacy in Iowa. Kmart Pharmacy will process your prescription through the Iowa Drug Card program even if you do not have a member card.

Sounds like a great idea, right? Government and business are keeping down the price of prescription drugs by going to practically every other big pharmacy except Evil Wal-Mart.

Let's look at some examples.


I looked up Amoxicillin in capsule with a 250 mg dose, 30 day supply.

IowaDrugCard.com (UNA Rx Card) was $7.26.

Wal-Mart? It's $4.00 at Wal-Mart for a 30 day supply.

Ooooh, that's painful.


Let's try 800 mg Ibuprofen, 30 day supply.

IowaDrugCard.com is $8.14. Wal-Mart is $4.00.

Wow, that's making my blood pressure go up!


How about a 25 mg tablet of Hydralazine, 30 day supply?

IowaDrugCard is $14.82. Wal-Mart is $4.00.

This is making me crazy.


How about Citalopram, 40mg tablet, 30 day supply?

IowaDrugCard is $12.95. Wal-Mart is $4.00.

This is giving me a stomach ache.


How about Ranitidine, 300 mg tablet, 30 day supply?

IowaDrugCard is $19.57. Wal-Mart is $4.00.

Well, you get my point now.

The truth is that Evil Wal-Mart continues to lower the cost of health care, and in a much more dramatic way for consumers than any government program can or ever will.

Nose To The Wet Grindstone

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Top state government and business officials are requesting some employer forbearance as flood-plagued Iowans attempt to deal with emergency situations.

Gov. Culver, the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, and Iowa Workforce Development Wednesday made a joint appeal for Iowa businesses to provide employees with the flexibility needed to deal with problems generated from Iowa’s recent natural disasters.

This must be a problem in some places, otherwise it wouldn't have been raised.

Kudos to Culver for pushing this issue.

Has anybody read stories or message boards where employer stupidity has been on display?

Kathy Hickman At The Des Moines Register Is A Total Moron

From Deadspin.com:

On Saturday, thanks to the awful flooding of Iowa, the Iowa Cubs played in front of zero fans in a 5-4 win over Nashville. The flooding has killed five, displaced thousands from their homes and caused millions of dollars in damage. Therefore, Black Heart Gold Pants, an Iowa football blog, posted a video the Des Moines Register had shot with flood footage, and encouraged readers to donate to the Red Cross. Then matters got weird.

It turns out that even though the Des Moines Register had posted the video on their site, with embed code, they threatened to sue the blog for embedding the video.

As it turned out, the assholes at the Des Moines Register chalked it up to some bullshit about "This was simply a case of our policy not being updated to reflect our technology (we just got the embed option a couple months ago)."

Or so says "ASSistant Managing Editor/Digital" Chris Snider (csnider@dmreg.com).

Where did they hire all these retards from?

More about this story at the once-threatened Black Heart Gold Pants blog, including the threatening email by the evil Kathy Hickman.

This blog has been harassed by that evil Kathy Hickman in the past.

Why? Because this blog dared to quote more than a couple of sentences. Actually, it's because I made fun of that unfunny, fat-assed columnist, K-k-k Ken Fuson.

Poor, poor Gannettoid Kathy Hickman (khickman@dmreg.com), it must suck to work for a company whose stock has gone down 50% in the past year and which had to ditch those lucrative pensions. Why anybody subscribes to that rag or even advertises in it, I'll never understand. That's OK, because fewer and fewer look at that paper every day. I love watching a dying industry die. If you want to read the news, just look at the web site and don't click on any of the ads. Screw them.

Actually, it must suck to be a total digital douchebag who doesn't know what the hell EMBED means or what it does! All this bitch Kathy Hickman knows how to do is threaten and scare and shovel out the harassing emails by the ton.

You've got to be D-U-M-B to work for the Des Moines Register, central Iowa's monopoly corporate newspaper.

Naturally, the Ass Piss cartel (of which the Des Moines Register is part of) can go around and steal from everybody else with impunity. What a bunch of Assholes.

"You'd Think The University Of Iowa Would Have Learned Something From The Pierre Pierce Case"

"Hmmmm, how do you get rid of evidence and taint a crime scene?"

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Unsealed search warrant documents show four Iowa football players -- Cedric Everson, Abeberell Satterfield, Clemmie Jevon Pugh and Michael Daniels Jr. -- were either inside or came by the Hillcrest Residence Hall room where a student allegedly was being sexually assaulted last fall while the victim was inside.

The six search warrants and related documents involving the alleged attack in room N207, which teammate Lance Tillison said he vacated earlier in the semester, also shed light on what allegedly occurred sometime between midnight and 6 a.m. Oct. 14, 2007, and indicate the alleged assault might have been widely discussed in the Hawkeyes' locker room.

Satterfield and Everson, who left UI last December, have been charged with second-degree sexual assault; Satterfield also faces a third-degree sexual abuse charge. Arrest warrants for the two men were obtained last month. Pugh, Daniels and teammate Derrell Johnson-Koulianos have not been charged.

Pugh also has left UI. Daniels and Johnson-Koulianos are both still enrolled at UI.

The warrant documents also state that within days of the reported assault Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz told Tillison to return to N207 to live and Johnson-Koulianos joined him.

"Johnson-Koulianos stated Coach Ferentz told Tillison to move back into the dorm room," the warrant documents state. "Johnson-Koulianos agreed to move into the room with Tillison."

However, the court records state that once in the room, Johnson-Koulianos threw out a new condom and a used condom found behind a bed and a mattress cover with an "orangish-reddish color" substance on it.

Read the comments on this story.

No wonder the University of Iowa wanted everything sealed forever for this case.

If the above turns out to be true, Kirk Ferentz should be packing his bags and going to prison.

I think we know from past cover ups at the University of Iowa (the 2002 Pierre Pierce case, Jean Jew seeking justice) that nobody in charge there can be trusted.

Especially considering how many UI football players turned into criminal-athletes in the past year.

15 Dogs, A Rabbit, and a Parrot

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

"We're here to get our dog," says Lewis Allison, 44, standing beside Candy Struchen, 38, five days after a forced evacuation from their 11th-floor apartment at Geneva Tower in downtown Cedar Rapids left behind Nikita, an 18-week-old Jack Russell terrier.

The dog had but a day's supply of food and a bowl of water. Lewis is worried, Candy near tears.

"We'll see what we can do," says Beth Haley of Cedar Rapids, one of dozens of volunteers at the Animal Health Technology Center at Kirkwood Community College.

"They had to go to a shelter, and shelters don't allow pets," Beth says as I follow her to a row of pet transporters. More than 500 pets, separated from owners because of the flood, had been taken to the center.

The search for Nikita is on.

Meanwhile, pets and owners found a godsend starting Thursday at New Creation United Methodist Church, 3715 33rd Ave. SW. Chairs in the sanctuary were stacked at one end, replaced by mattresses and pet carriers.

About 75 pets and owners, including one family with 15 dogs, a rabbit and parrot, have spent time at the church, secretary Peg Watts says.

15 dogs?

Flood Your Wallets

Governor Chet Culver contemplates another meal while Senator Chuck Grassley checks his corn futures and Senator Tom Harkin checks his ConocoPhillips stock. (photo by Mauro Heck)

Headlines in the Des Moines Register concerning paying for the recent flooding:

• Gronstal wants debt to be option
  
  
• Culver considers tapping 'rainy-day' fund
  
  
• Harkin, Grassley plea in Washington for aid
  

LEE Death Watch

Lee Enterprises (LEE) is down to $5.05 a share today.

$35.15 on February 15, 2007
$30.60 on April 18, 2007
$25.12 on May 31, 2007
$20.09 on July 17, 2007
$15.29 on December 26, 2007
$10.41 on April 8, 2008
$7.71 on May 13, 2008
$6.51 on June 5, 2008

Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck in February 2007:

Lee Enterprises is poised for strength ahead as its newspapers maintain solid circulation while at the same time expanding their online components to extend their reach, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer told shareholders this morning.

“We at Lee are not buying the negative,” Mary Junck said of the “pot shots” that some pundits have taken at the newspaper industry. “It is not what we are seeing from our industry.”

...Across Lee, she said the newspapers are located in healthy, diverse markets and are the media leaders in their markets. Among the reasons for her optimism, she said, is Lee’s ability to maintain a solid circulation base, its big and growing market reach and its emphasis on revenue growth.

That stock is now down nearly 80% in the past 16 months.

Flood Of Emotion

From the Des Moines Register:

As floodwaters continued to recede [in Cedar Rapids], hundreds of frustrated residents waited for hours Sunday afternoon to get a brief look at their flood-damaged homes.

Tempers flared.

"Why did they tell us to come out here at noon?" Sarah Franks shouted at a police officer Sunday afternoon. Then she broke into tears. "My house is just sitting there, and I want to see it."

City officials had said they would allow residents to briefly check on their homes, but only after the homes had been inspected for safety. Checkpoints were installed so authorities could check identifications.

Lines stretched for blocks at security checkpoints for 10 areas.

About 300 people waited at a checkpoint near the Czech Village neighborhood on the city's southwest side.

"It's going to be a slow-moving process," police Lt. Tobey Harrison told members of a crowd. They peppered him with questions.

At 2 p.m., word spread that it might require another three hours before the visits would begin. Some people had been waiting since noon.

"They had really good control of things until today," said William Wims, who left one checkpoint with his wife, Victoria. "They kind of dropped the ball."

I don't understand all these people who want to go into their flood-ravaged homes and who then get all angry about it when there are delays.

Nothing is salvageable. Nothing is left.

You're not going to be able to unlock the door, go the fridge, have a beer, turn on the TV, and sit on the sofa anymore.

You really don't want to be in there.

Call the insurance company (if you have any insurance), and find another place to live. Go fill out all the FEMA paperwork. Maybe your house can be restored several months later.

It's sad that there is such an importance on "seeing" a flood-ravaged home. The media is always tagging along, waiting to exploit emotion.

And if the local authorities err on the side of safety or caution, they always get shit on by the public. That's how you eventually end up with racist assholes like Barack Obama's preacher, Jeremiah Wright, running around saying that the US government created HIV and AIDS as a way of committing genocide against black people.

It's a conspiracy, I tell ya! Dick Cheney and Halliburton are dynamiting the levees! The Bildebergers want the land, tax-free, so ADM can install another ethanol plant which will use only illegal Mexican labor. It's the Joozes, I'm sure of it!!!!!!

Why Do We Encourage Development In Flood Zones?

Downtown Cedar Rapids (photo: Liz Martin/The Gazette)

This is from June 2nd (13 days ago), in the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Meanwhile, the Cedar Rapids City Council and Linn County Board of Supervisors have designated 2009 as the Year of the River, and a new state program earmarking $52 million for river and lake developments will begin accepting applications soon after July 1.

Downtown and city leaders hope a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly riverfront will be a catalyst for retail and housing growth in downtown Cedar Rapids. It will be important for county supervisors to commit to the effort, state and local officials say.

"We should be walking a tightrope," Machacek said. "There's going to be a lot of interest and a lot of pushing for the riverfront development project, and I think that's great if we can get that done, but I know that our rural constituents are going to be very concerned if we're putting money in that and they're driving on substandard roads."

Economic development — particularly in downtown Cedar Rapids — has not been a key campaign topic for many of the supervisor candidates. One exception is District 3 Democrat Ben Rogers, who suggests that long-term development is the best way to raise revenue and solve a tight budget.

Rogers argues, as does Downtown District President Doug Neumann, that increasing the tax base in downtown Cedar Rapids is good for both urban and rural residents.

Young professionals and families will leave the county if more is not done to get them to stay, he argues. "This has a major economic impact on our community," he said.

Current supervisors Barron, Houser and Linda Langston have said little more than they're exploring how they can help with riverfront development.

Some of the other rural candidates — Rozinek and Wear — express interest in downtown development and, like Machacek, concede it could be a good thing.

What sort of person is going to buy a house or condo in that area after this latest flood?

Nobody is.

But we'll want the taxpayers to build a $136 million Federal courthouse in 2010 - right next to the river.

I swear, what is it with the people running Cedar Rapids and Linn County?

Let's give taxpayer-backed loans and TIF corporate welfare to buy and fix up a hotel - next to the river.

Let's create Al Gore's National Example of how to mismanage and waste millions for welfare housing - next to the river.

Let's spend over $10 million to buy nine electric buses which traveled under 200,000 miles total (that's $50 a mile, folks) and were sold as scrap at auction for $30,000 total.

Let's build an IMAX theater - next to the river - which will then become iDead when nobody goes to it.

Let's mismanage a dead mall by imposing a development moratorium on the property.

It's just bad idea after bad idea after bad idea with these clowns.

What do you think we'll hear after the waters go down?

"Oh, we must rebuild..."

"We must have the Federal government spend billions..."

There will be no leadership. There will be nobody cautioning people and businesses to rebuild elsewhere, on higher ground. There will only be cheerleading at the Federal trough.

You'll see that idiot Lee Clancey in the news all the time again, I'm sure.

Then there's this from the Iowa City Press-Citizen, also from June 2nd:

Construction has begun on a Hills subdivision that could change the face of the small town just south of Iowa City.

The development is the first subdivision in the city, population 611, in almost 20 years. The project called Oakcrest Hill Estates will span 40 acres on the west side of town when it is finished, which could take 10 years depending on when homes are built. It is bordered by Oakcrest Hill Road and Main Street and is visible from Highway 218.

Officials said they expect the development will bring as many as 400 people into the town, which has been shrinking steadily since 2000. The 81 lots in the development will include all kinds of housing types -- single-family, zero-lot line and multi-family -- and commercial space.

Streb Alberts Realty representative Shelly Streb-Alberts said Hills' proximity to Iowa City made it an attractive location for a new development project.

How would you like to buy a house in a town that was almost entirely evacuated?

No thank you.

Contrast this to development restrictions around airports.

If I remember correctly, Des Moines (or the Feds) bought and then restricted development on many acres of commercial land around the runways on the NE and SE sides of the airport, along Fleur Drive. There used to by a Hyatt Hotel at the corner of Army Post Rd and Fleur Drive, along with numerous restaurants, gas stations, and even some homes south of Army Post which were moved or torn down.

Why?

All for what was known as a "crash zone", in case an airplane had to make an emergency landing short of the runway.

No airplanes have crashed in these zones, thankfully.

Contrast this to sleazeball Michael Gartner obtaining nearly a million dollars in State taxpayer money to help spruce up the ballpark he owns at the convergence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers.

So government will give millions and billions to build in flood zones. They'll even let developers build new houses and developments in flood-prone areas.

It's just insanity.

Even the Egyptians had this figured out thousands of years ago.

Iowans Are A Great Example Of How People Should Behave In Times Of Crises

Via the Cedar Rapids Gazette, this is about what's happening in Cedar Rapids:

The Cedar River is dropping more quickly than officials thought it would, and attention is turning to the logistics of recovery.

"We're below 29 feet now," City Engineer Dave Elgin said. "The water is dropping at a little over two inches per hour."

The water is now expected to drop below flood stage June 21, Elgin said.

Local police and firefighters are requesting more National Guard assistance as it becomes important to secure the flooded areas.

"The perimeter of the flooded area is going to be maintained as a secured area," Linn County Administrative Services Director Mike Goldberg said.

He said police and National Guard will thoroughly patrol all the flood-damaged areas, and set up checkpoints. People will have to sign in and go in and out through the same checkpoint. A list of checkpoint locations will be released by noon.

Goldberg implored people to stay away unless they have a valid reason to be there.

"We need your cooperation," he said.

No looting has been reported, he said.

And from a comment on the New York Daily News web site:

Has the media noticed how Iowans, regardless of race, work together to help one another and there isn't this mass hysteria, blaming the federal govt, waiting for help, focusing the blame on everyone else but the source - the weather? And the governor is a democrat, just like the one in lousiana at the time of Katrina. Look media- take a look at the people of Iowa - they aren't waiting - they are helping one another. I am so sick and tired of people in this country trying to place blame on everyone else and doing nothing to try and solve the problem.

Compare/contrast how the Iowa people will rebuild and make their state great again, while Louisiana will still cry of injustices, poverty and no help. Sorry, but there is poverty in Iowa too. People don't just sit on their lazy ***** waiting for someone else to do the job. Do you see anyone w/ shotguns, do you see any looting, do you see any whining? Iowans are a great example of how people should behave in time of crises.

They always have been.

Who's Afraid Of A Little Water?

From the Mason City Glob-Gazette:

CLEAR LAKE — A sports bar owner is threatening to turn his establishment into a topless bar if the city tickets him for having a wet T-shirt contest this weekend.

Alan Slater, co-owner of The Marina, 2309 Fourth Ave. S., plans to hold a wet T-shirt contest Saturday night.

“I’ve given the city ample opportunity to back off on this. If they decide to push it, I will put in a topless bar. The city has to decide if this is the issue they want to try it over.”

Slater said he doesn’t think the event violates the city’s adult entertainment ordinance because the women participating in the wet T-shirt contest will be wearing pasties under their T-shirts covering their nipples.

According to Clear Lake city ordinance section 130.07, “If such person allows or permits the exposure of the genitals or female breast nipple of any person who acts as an entertainer, whether or not the owner of the place of business in which the activity is performed employs or pays any compensation to such person to perform such activity” he or she is in violation of the ordinance.

“We believe that this is a violation of our adult entertainment ordinance,” said Clear Lake Police Chief Greg Peterson.

“He (Slater) does not have an adult entertainment permit. I will be there to take a look at it and I will be issuing a ticket.”

How unfair is it that government continues to discriminate against the display or semi-display of nipples solely on the basis of human gender?

You know, I've been to Clear Lake in the winter many years ago. It gets cold up there. This bar owner ought to wait for winter and have a "dry t-shirt contest" outdoors, if you know what I mean. He'd also be able to allow smoking, something which will be outlawed in Iowa bars in a couple of weeks.

More Flood Photo Blogging

The Daily Iowan's daily slideshow of flood coverage in the Iowa City area is worth viewing.

That's probably the best picture I've seen so far.

Cedar Rapids

May's (not) Island in Cedar Rapids

It's just staggering, isn't it?

31 foot high crest, nearly 20 feet over flood stage.

Dealing with people who don't want to leave their flood-ravaged homes.

Iowa, Jones, and Cedar counties are virtually impassable.

Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids had to evacuate. They're at least a mile away from the river, if I remember correctly, but I bet that building goes way underground.

Iowa City will be 10 feet above flood stage, maybe even higher, and it won't crest for another five days.

Backflow prevention in Coralville is just delaying the inevitable. At least it'll give people time.

Anamosa has contaminated water.

The Water department in Cedar Rapids asked for volunteers to save the last well there. 1200 people showed up to help.

Nevertheless, water conservation in Cedar Rapids may last for weeks. 25% or less of normal usage is needed.

And Iowa City's Dairy Queen may be screwed again by mother nature.

Lots of video and pics at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, whose coverage has been outstanding.

Also check out the Jeff Tibbetts photostream at Flickr.

Gannett Ditches Pensions Completely For 401K

From the AP:

Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper publisher, on Wednesday told employees that it is freezing the company pension plan, effective Aug. 1, and replacing it with an enhanced 401(k) program.

The changes will affect virtually all of Gannett's more than 25,000 employees in the United States, said Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell. The McLean-based company publishes USA Today and 84 other daily papers in the U.S.

Freezing the pension plan will save about $90 million in 2009, but that will be partially offset by $60 million in costs associated with the enhanced 401(k) plan, Connell said.

In an e-mail to employees, Gannett Chairman and Chief Executive Craig Dubow said the company is "not alone in making the benefit changes. There is a strong, worldwide trend to limit benefits in pension plans and shift to a more 401(k) based system. Also, enhancing the 401(k) plan makes us more attractive to those employees who especially value these portable, self-directed plans."

The existing 401(k) plan provides a 50 percent match in Gannett stock to employee contributions of up to 6 percent of salary. The enhanced plan will provide a 100 percent match in Gannett stock on employee contributions up to 5 percent of salary.

Gannett stock (GCI) is down more than 50% in the past year.

Isn't it a real morale booster to work at the Des Moines Register and see your company's match become worth less, year after year?

A couple years ago, Gannett revealed some information about their vesting plan for company-matched 401K contributions. Back then, Gannett would not let employees sell company stock from the 401K matching in order to diversify their assets unless the employee was at least 55 years of age. That was worse than Enron's 401K matching plan.

Also back in 2006, the Register was still writing cranky editorials about the evils of Bush-promoted 401K plans.

In other newspaper news, Gannett also announced a couple days ago that they were going to take a $3 billion charge to write down assets.

Just last month, Lee Enterprises (LEE) had a similar billion dollar write down.

It's hard to believe that LEE had fallen through the $10 floor in March. Today the stock is barely above $5 a share! That's a nearly 50% drop in just three months!

Democrats: Pulling The Same Dead Rabbit Out Of The Hat

From the QC Times:

The House on Wednesday narrowly defeated a Democratic attempt to give unemployed Americans an extra three months of jobless benefits after the White House threatened to veto the bill.

The bill would have extended the average $300-a-week unemployment benefit check by 13 weeks for all Americans. Job seekers in high unemployment states like Alaska, California, Michigan and Rhode Island would have been able to get an extra 13 weeks on top of that...

...Senate Democrats will try to resurrect the measure by adding it to a must-pass war spending bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., ``continues to believe the best way to pass this extension is by including it in the supplemental appropriations bill,'' spokesman Jim Manley said.

Majority Democrats said the legislation was needed because of the tough economy and rising unemployment rates.

What's the Democrats' cure for unemployment?

Yes, it's extending benefits until after the election season is over in order to play politics with the numbers.

Bonus points if a jerk like Harry Reid can tack the thing onto a war spending bill.

Talk about crass.

Democrats tend to stomp their feet about all the usual stuff this time of year, like suggesting that imposing "windfall profits taxes" on oil companies will lower the price of gas. It's just so illogical, but the Press and at least a portion of the public continue to eat this up.

Bettendorf School Board Not Soft On Their Multiple Drunk Driving Stupidertendent

From the Quad City Times:

Bettendorf School Board members voted Wednesday evening to place Superintendent Marty Lucas, who has been charged with drunken driving, on paid leave and will move forward with terminating his contract, despite pleas from parents and staff.

After meeting behind closed doors for almost three and a half hours, the board returned to open session and voted 6-0 to consider termination of Lucas’s contract. Board member Paul Castro was not present at the meeting, but issued a written statement saying he did agree with the board’s decision...

...The board has spent the last four months reviewing what, if any, action they would take against Lucas for a February incident in which he was arrested for drunken driving. It is the second time in less than a decade he faces such charges.

Under Iowa law, the board could not fire Lucas during the meeting. Instead, they must vote to consider termination of the contract and provide him with written notice of their decision. After receiving notification, Lucas then has five days to make a request to the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners to have a hearing before an administrative law judge. Within 10 days of the hearing, the judge will make a decision regarding the termination.

The Bettendorf board can then decide to review the decision and take a final vote on the matter. Lucas can also ask the board to review the matter again, depending on the judge’s ruling, which board members are not required to follow...

...Anderson said the fact it is Lucas’s second OWI arrest and his statement to officers that he only had one beer prior to the accident that lead to his arrest were also factors. The drunken driving charge came after the 2008 Chevy Blazer Lucas was driving and the U-Haul it was pulling ended up in a ditch off of an icy Interstate 380 in Benton County. His blood alcohol-content was 0.118 about an hour after the accident. He told officers that he had only one beer with his lunch.

Here's some back story on the incident and the first OWI conviction from March:

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.”

Bettendorf should have known better than to hire this guy in the first place.

Flood Coverage In Iowa

I must compliment the Cedar Rapids Gazette for their coverage of the flooding in Eastern Iowa. Their web site is excellent, what with them using the Google Maps API to link stories to particular locations, the radar storm tracking, and all the town-specific photographs.

Really well done.

Several years ago, the boneheads in charge of the Cedar Rapids Gazette took what had been one of The Best online newspapers in the late 1990s and walled it off. If you wanted any access to content then you had to subscribe. They've since reversed that decision in the past couple of years and opened things up a bit. It's really for the better.

Contrast this to the horrible and clunky Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen web sites, which use some kind awful template that other Gannett-owned newspapers around the country have to suffer with. About the only thing good on the DM Register site are the short videos by John Gaps.

Worst of all has to be the Waterloo Courier, owned by Lee Enterprises. The downtowns of Cedar Falls and Waterloo are closed, along with all of the bridges across town, and the thing they're most concerned about is delivery of the physical newspaper.

No wonder Lee Enterprises (LEE) is doing so poorly. Their stock was $35.51 on February 16th of 2007. Today it is trading at a new 52-week low of $5.42. That's down another 25% in the past three and a half weeks.

What's Your Plan?

Roy Blunt of Missouri put together this chart (click to enlarge) showing the difference between the Democrat and Republican plans to help lower gas prices.

Who knows how much of Blunt's chart is fiction on the Republican side? The "cut earmarks to fund gas tax holiday" seems a little bogus.

Republicans would be better off including something like "streamlining boutique blends" and helping to lower the 59-odd different blends of gasoline that various states, counties, and municipalities order up.

But it's all better than what the Democrats offer up: endless carping about "windfall profits" while your wife is the director of an oil company and your personal fortune hits $20 million while you draw a senator's salary. Oh, and earmarking over $10 million for 9 electric buses which traveled a total of 200,000 miles (that's $50 a mile, folks) before being mothballed and sold as scrap for $30,000.

You F*$@ing Donkey!!!

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 ASSociated Press:

With gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon, Senate Democrats want the government to grab some of the billions of dollars in profits being taken in by the major oil companies.

Senators were to vote Tuesday on whether to consider a windfall profits tax against the five largest U.S. oil companies and rescind $17 billion in tax breaks the companies expect to enjoy over the next decade.

"The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy," said Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat

Don't forget that while Tom Harkin was assailing oil companies over "windfall profits" his wife Ruth was (and still is) a director at the oil company ConocoPhillips. That's how he's able to be worth nearly $20 million dollars.

And Harkin was able to waste over $10 million on nine electric buses that traveled a total of 200,000 miles for the people Cedar Rapids (that's $50 a mile, folks).

So what about windfall profits taxes?

This is from the Cato Institute and appeared in the Houston Chronicle in 2006:

What they won't get, however, is nearly as much money out of such a tax as they probably think. A windfall profit tax targeted at earnings far beyond the U.S. industrial average would return zero revenue to the Treasury because windfall profits in the oil sector are figments of the imagination.

While the raw earnings figures sound big, in proportion to the size of those companies, they are unexceptional. Divide profits by sales, for instance, and you'll find that in the fourth quarter of 2005 (the last quarter for which we have data available), profit margins were 6.8 percent at British Petroleum, 7 percent at ConocoPhilips, 7.1 percent at Shell, 7.7 percent at Chevron and 10.7 percent at Exxon Mobil. The 20 largest investor-owned oil companies earned a collective 8.8 cents on every dollar of sales for that quarter.

Now, it's not a stretch to note that the lady who sells us hot dogs on the street probably earns a better profit margin than that. But more to the point, the nation's most prominent critic of "oil profiteering" — Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly — works for a company (News Corp.) that reported a 10.2 percent profit during the fourth quarter of 2005. If you're after really big earners, however, check out Yahoo (a 45.5 percent profit margin), Citigroup (33.4 percent), Intel (24 percent) or Apple (22.7 percent).

Returns on invested capital over a longer time frame are even more telling. Analysts at Goldman Sachs report that returns on investment capital in the oil and gas sector from 1970 to 2003 were less than the U.S. industrial average over that same period.

Especially noteworthy is this section:

We've actually been down this road before in the form of the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax of 1980. According to a study published by the Congressional Research Service, the tax discouraged investment in the domestic oil industry to such a degree that domestic oil production was 3 percent to 6 percent less as a result of that tax, and foreign oil imports grew accordingly by 8 percent to 16 percent.

Doh!

Of course, Barack Hussein Obama would impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

Obama wants to go back to the days of failed Jimmy Carter policies, doesn't he?

These Senators think they have the answer for everything, don't they? The price of gas, health care, the war.... you name it.

But the Senate can't even manage to run a restaurant properly:

Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate's network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money -- more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another.

The financial condition of the world's most exclusive dining hall and its affiliated Capitol Hill restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops has become so dire that, without a $250,000 subsidy from taxpayers, the Senate won't make payroll next month...

In a masterful bit of understatement, [Senator Dianne] Feinstein blamed "noticeably subpar" food and service.

Perhaps they ought to bring in Gordon Ramsay to run things:

Floodblogging In Iowa

John Deeth has pictures from the Iowa City/Coralville Lake area.

So does Scott Sterner, whose church is going to have services held elsewhere.

Andy and Ellen Stumbo have a number of pics from Charles City.

The "CyberAllens" have pics from Cedar Rapids, as well as embedded video from the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

John Ford has some good pics from Des Moines.

John McGlothlen, a librarian at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, has pics of that town's flood in 1929.

Sally Morrow, a photojournalist in Des Moines, has an artsy photo of the flooding there.

The Company You Keep, VP Search Edition

From the New York Sun:

James Johnson, one of three people tapped by Mr. Obama recently to oversee the search for his running mate, took at least five real estate loans totaling more than $7 million from Countrywide Financial Corp. through an informal program for friends of the company's CEO, Angelo Mozilo, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The Journal said at least two of the mortgages, among a series of loans made available to people Countrywide officials called "friends of Angelo," were at rates below market averages, though it is difficult to predict a market rate without access to nonpublic information about a borrower's credit history and other factors that can reduce interest charges on a loan.

Among the loans to Mr. Johnson, according to the Journal, were a $5 million home equity line of credit against a house in Ketchum, Idaho, a 5.25% loan of $1.3 million for a home in Palm Desert, Calif., and a 3.875% loan of $971,650 for a home in Washington, D.C. The interest rates applied for the first five years of the loans.

"That reeks most high," a public relations specialist and vocal critic of Mr. Mozilo, Bonnie Russell of Del Mar, Calif., said. "Where's the 'change to believe in' if they're playing the same old game using the same old players?"

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama has criticized Countrywide's executives. "These are the people who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis. Two million people may end up losing their homes," Mr. Obama said in March at a town hall meeting in Lancaster, Pa.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the senator from Illinois "fumed" over a total of $19 million in bonuses set to be paid to Mr. Mozilo and the president of Countrywide, David Sambol. "They get a $19 million bonus while people are at risk of losing their home. What's wrong with this picture?" Mr. Obama asked.

In a written statement issued in March, the senator called the payments "an outrage" and suggested Mr. Mozilo and others had "tricked" homeowners into unaffordable loans. "These executives crossed the line to boost their bottom line," Mr. Obama declared.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Is this the same James Johnson that Obama knew?

Ban Everything

First, those Communist Fascists in Iowa City put cameras in the bathrooms at that town's public library.

Now they want to ban smoking outdoors:

Iowa City smokers will not be allowed to light up outside on the Pedestrian Mall if some city officials have their way.

Such a restriction along the popular city plaza, known as the Ped Mall, would be permitted under the state smoking ban that takes effect July 1.

The idea came up after the state health department provided details on enforcing the controversial law that prohibits smoking in most indoor venues.

Last week, City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes sent a memo to city officials about the ban and noted that it could extend to the Ped Mall.

The City Council will discuss the matter Tuesday. Mayor Regenia Bailey and Councilman Mike O'Donnell said they might support such a ban.

"I think most smokers are courteous, but there's always thousands of cigarette butts down there that somebody has to pick up," O'Donnell said. "I understand you're banning a legal substance, and some people are going to be upset about that, but I don't see walking a few blocks as a big inconvenience."

..."It's cold six or seven months out of the year here," said Patrick Schultz, a 21-year-old U of I student. "I'm in a bar in the Ped Mall, and you're telling me to walk two blocks to smoke on a city sidewalk and then come back? It's pointless. It's excessive."

Oh, that's nothing.

Just wait until those Nazis force you to walk to the city limits in order to have a smoke.

Or, you know, drive your car. Because cars should be banned.

And if you forget your canvas bag at the grocery store, tough shit, because you won't have a choice between paper OR plastic!

I'm sure we're just around the corner from having the left-wing, jack-booted thugs of the Iowa City Police Department storm your apartment building for running the air conditioner. Why, it wasn't that many years ago they were executing artists for holding telephones.

You think I'm joking?

Think back 10 or 20 years. Back then could you have even contemplated a municipal government banning smoking OUTDOORS?

How High's The Water, Momma?

I knew it was getting bad in Iowa, but I didn't realize it was getting this bad:

Widespread flooding over the weekend threatened homes and businesses in many of the state's major cities and contributed to at least one death.

Mason City, with more than 27,000 people, was left without drinking water after the city's water treatment plant was flooded. Residents in the town were asked not to use tap water, and all restaurants were closed.

In Iowa City and Coralville, residents today start their fifth day of sandbagging - with the expectation that water levels may rise another 2 feet in the next 48 hours.

The flooding was the result of the 4 to 6 inches of rain dumped on much of Iowa during a 24-hour period Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday evening, National Weather Service flood warnings were in effect for 78 of Iowa's 99 counties.

Gov. Chet Culver put 31 counties under an emergency proclamation, which allows state resources to be used at no cost by local governments. He also on Sunday activated the state's emergency operations center to allow state agencies to coordinate their response to the flooding.

The floodwaters in Mason City, which also caused a breach in a levee, prompted the mayor to impose a state of emergency and a curfew.

No, no, no, no, no! You've got it all wrong!

Republican Karl Rove pointed his evil weather machine at Iowa and Dick Cheney had Halliburton come in to dynamite the levees as a way to get back at Iowa for propelling Barack Obama to be presumptive Democratic nominee for President.

I'm tellin' ya! I read it on that Internet thingee.

David Yepsen Hates The Racist Electoral College But Loves Superdelegates

David Yepsen

From the Des Moines Register's David Yepsen, the worst political columnist in Iowa:

Much has been said about what an interesting presidential campaign this has been. But it could have a nightmare ending:

Barack Obama could win the popular vote, but John McCain could win a majority in the Electoral College - and the presidency.

It's not probable, but it is possible, and it's enough to make you shudder.

Some people would just come unglued, even more so than in 2000, when George W. Bush got fewer popular votes but more electoral votes than Al Gore to capture the White House. Bush's presidency was snakebit from the beginning.

Here's how this could happen again: Obama wins by huge margins in Democratic states such as New York and in states with large African-American populations. But McCain wins toss-up states such as Missouri and Ohio by narrow margins. In most states, whether you win by a big margin or a small one, you still get the same number of electoral votes from that state.

Right now, Obama holds a slim lead in national polls of the contest. The average is just over 2 percentage points. But national totals mean nothing in November. It's the Electoral College that counts, and state-by-state projections show McCain with about 100 solid electoral votes and Obama with about 60. As a result, it's entirely possible McCain wins enough states to capture the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House even though Obama gets more popular votes.

It would be sad. A president needs a popular majority to lead and govern. That will be especially important to the next president, who faces some of the toughest decisions ever faced by an American president.

Of course, David Yepsen conveniently ignores the fact that Hillary Clinton got more popular votes than Barack Obama did during the campaign season (if you count Michigan, where Obama wasn't on the ballot).

Oh, and what is David Yepsen's opinion about superdelegates? This is from March 2, 2008 in the Des Moines Register:

Barack Obama could finish off Hillary Clinton with victories in Tuesday's primaries in Ohio and Texas.

Or, voters could render a split decision, giving Ohio to Clinton and Texas to Obama.

In that case, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination will go on, at least until more states vote and until the so-called " superdelegates " of party leaders and elected officials weigh in to make decisions that crown a winner.

Superdelegates, those delegates who become delegates by virtue of their party or governmental positions, are a good idea. They can bring closure to a messy nomination fight.

Since these superdelegates are in the business of winning elections, they aren't immune to wishes and preferences of constituencies and people back home, but they know a thing or two about what's needed to win an election and govern afterward.

They could prove pivotal this year. According to Zogby polls released Friday, Obama leads Clinton in Texas, 48 percent to 42 percent, with 7 percent undecided. In Ohio, Clinton leads Obama, 44 percent to 42 percent, with 9 percent undecided. Also, her lead is shrinking.

The surveys were conducted last Tuesday through Thursday, and each has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.

These numbers would indicate Obama can win Texas and eke out a win in Ohio. If that happens, even more money, momentum and delegates would move in his direction. That would pretty much end any prospect for Clinton getting the nomination.

As it turned out, Hillary Clinton clobbered Barack Obama in Ohio (53.5% to 44.8%) and Texas (50.9% to 47.4%).

So David Yepsen hates the Electoral College but loves the Democrats' Superdelegates.

If the Democrats have a system where the elite party members get to throw their support behind a candidate who is basically in an equal fight but might be losing ground towards the end then that's "a good idea", but if America has a Federal system whereby the Constitution protects smaller states like Iowa from being marginalized then that's a bad thing.

Yepsen might as well just come out and say that the Electoral College is racist. You know that's how these media types are going to spin everything in this coming election. If Obama doesn't win every single vote and state, it'll be the "racist and xenophobic Republican party" to blame.

That, or those stupid religious smalltown redneck xenophobic gun-toting "Reagan" Democrats.

You can see where this is all going, right? David Yepsen and the rest of the intolerant and hypcritical leftist assholes at the Des Moines Register are hoping to stir up a race war. If "their" candidate doesn't win, it'll be a Scorched Earth policy. You know I'm right about that. They would love to see riots and "whitey" get killed because Obama isn't elected.

Breaking News: Rising Gas Prices Affects People With 152 Mile Daily Commutes

From the Mason City Glob-Gazette:

Six days a week, Don Sells heads to work from his home in Clarksville to Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel in Tama, where he works as a parking valet for $7.68 an hour.

The daily round trip of 152 miles costs between $15-20 per day due to the escalating costs at the gas pump, said his wife, Patty. She works two jobs at Waverly, 13 miles away.

Between rent, food, utilities, a child support payment, child care and a car loan, “there isn’t much left” of their paychecks each month.

Newspapers always find the dumbest people to profile for their "sad sack" stories, don't they?

Look at this map. Notice any large cities or towns between Clarksville and Tama?

Well, there's Waverly, which is a 25 mile round trip.

Even driving to Cedar Falls/Waterloo would be about a 55 mile round trip.

This guy can't find a job for $7.68 an hour in Waverly, Cedar Falls, or Waterloo? Unemployment rates in Bremer and Black Hawk counties are in the 3% to 3.5% range (source).

As this blog always does, I turn to publicly available databases to find out "the rest of the story" about the people that newspapers profile.

An Iowa Court Search/Trial Court case search for Don Edward Sells (dob 3/19/72) reveals that Mr Sells has a thing for driving very very fast (Case: 01071 STP932MS2, Case: 02091DESTNO001101, Case: 02091WASTWG138311, Case: 02091WASTWG769890, Case: 05771DMSTDM276284). Apparently he has a lot of money for speeding tickets.

Whatever money he's paying for speeding tickets doesn't go towards carrying automobile insurance (Case: 02091 STWG769812 and Case: 06861TOSTTO020743)

And Mr Sells had to be forced into mandatory child support by the mother of his children (Case: 02091 DRCV002765 and Case: 05771 DRCV029603, Case: 06571 DRCV049891).

How do newspaper reporters find these people? Don't they go searching publicly available database just to make sure that the people they profile aren't a bunch of deadbeat losers? I don't think they do. They certainly haven't in the past.

They Told Me If George W Bush Was Re-Elected That Iowa City Would Put Cameras In Their Library's Bathrooms

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

The surveillance cameras installed last summer in restrooms at the Iowa City Public Library were supposed to help catch criminals, and they have.

They've also caught flak from civil liberties advocates, who say the restroom cameras walk a precarious legal line and infringe unnecessarily on privacy...

...At the Iowa City Public Library, video cameras mounted in the restrooms show mainly the entrance and sink areas. Placards at the library entrance and in the restrooms indicate that video surveillance is in use, library Executive Director Susan Craig said.

Even so, the Iowa Civil Liberties Union said some library patrons easily could enter the restrooms without noticing the signs and be video-recorded at embarrassing moments. The group asked the library board last month to reconsider the restroom cameras because they infringe on privacy rights.

And if that doesn't work, the ICLU should sue the library because they don't have signs printed up in Spanish, Laotian, Bosnian, and Vietnamese.

They should do so because the law is mean-spirited and sends an anti-immigrant message. They should do so because it makes Iowa seem xenophobic.

Feedback Wanted About The Stories Project In Coralville

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

It will take a "patchwork of financing" to pull off a proposed $90 million Stories Project center celebrating literacy and great authors at a spot along Interstate 80 for which Coralville officials have high hopes, organizers said here Friday.

How they'll raise that money will be determined this summer and will likely include a mix of government grants and private donations from national and corporate sources, Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau President Josh Schamberger said.

But first, organizers want to know what the public thinks of the idea. "We're just really anxious to hear what the community's review is of the plan," Shamberger said.

$90 million is a ridiculously insane amount of money for this project. Especially since you expect Federal and State taxpayers to fork over most of the money.

Your consultants are liars if they believe that 500,000 people will annually visit this place. If it were open every day of the year, you'd need 1370 paying customers per day to make your projected attendance. That includes winter. $7 million a year to run the place would mean that you'd have to charge $14 a head for each of those 500,000 people.

More from the Gazette's story:

The University of Iowa, which has been working to build its reputation as "The Writing University", has also participated in the planning. "Partnership and collaboration are the reasons this is going to happen," UI President Sally Mason told the crowd of about 150...

Um, I'm sorry.... but who in the literary community doesn't think the University of Iowa is THE writing university for graduate work?

Seriously.

This is the Iowa Writers' Workshop entry in Wikipedia, in case anybody ever doubted the University of Iowa's reputation:

The program began in 1936, with the gathering together of poets and fiction writers under the direction of Wilbur Schramm. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts in English; Iowa was the first program in the country to offer this degree...

...Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni have won a dozen Pulitzer Prizes (most recently Marilynne Robinson in fiction in 2005, and Michael Cunningham in fiction and Mark Strand in poetry, both in 1999), as well as numerous National Book Awards and other major literary honors. Four recent U.S. Poets Laureate have been graduates of the Workshop. In 2003, the Workshop received a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It was the first Medal awarded to a university, and only the second given to an institution rather than an individual."

Is Sally Mason doubting the University of Iowa's reputation as The Writing University on a graduate level?

Is that what I'm reading in the Gazette story?

And without this $90 million taxpayer-paid temple to "flying video screens" and "holographic projections" of people reading stories, somehow the University is going to become second-class???

There's more:

Shamberger told The Gazette partners will form an organization to raise funds, work with architects and get it off the ground if area people like The Stories Project. Under the best case scenario, he said, the doors could open in four or five years but it could take longer, depending on funding.

Like the Rainforest, this group is going to drag their feet for years, if not a decade. Why not? One of the people behind it is Iowa City Chamber of Commerce President Nancy Quellhorst, the same person who used to get paid to cheerlead the Earthpark Rainforest scam, and who was likely paid from the $3 million in taxpayer money that Senator Chuck Grassley allowed con artist David Oman to spend before the $50 million pork grant had gone through final approval (which failed, of course).

And I'm sure all along the media will be constantly priming the pump since Cedar Rapids Gazette CEO and President Chuck Peters is affiliated with this taxpayer scam.

This whole thing is just all wrong.

Doesn't anybody have a built-in BS detector?

Doesn't the initial cost, ongoing expenses, and attendance projections all seem more than a little excessive?

But do you think anybody in the media is going to question any of this?

Don't bet on it.

Pulp Fiction: The Stories Project Scam In Coralville

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

A proposed language, literature and literacy-themed attraction in Coralville could earn more than $4.5 million a year, officials said today, and draw 500,000 people annually.

“The Stories Project,” to be located on the Iowa River Landing Area, made its official debut at the Old Capitol Friday morning. Local leaders who have spent the past two years planning and researching the concept released details about its size, features and economic feasibility.

The $90 million attraction would need about $6 million a year to operate. A professionally managed fundraising program could cover what direct revenues don’t bring in, officials said.

500,000 people annually? In Coralville?

That's about how many people Adventureland near Des Moines attracts (source).

$90 million? Where are they going to come up with that sort of money?

Who's going to come up with the $6 million a year to run the joint?

Bob Rogers, founder and chairman of the Burbank, Calif.-based BRC Imaginations Arts, Inc., said Stories would be an unprecedented combination of education and entertainment.

BRC consultants worked with city of Coralville, the University of Iowa, the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, the Iowa Language & Literacy Institute and a host of other organizations to develop the idea.

What a bunch of nonsense.

These consultants just pull a number out of the air!

Look who's involved here. The Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. Who runs that outfit? Nancy Quellhorst, the same person who used to get paid to cheerlead the Earthpark Rainforest scam, and who was likely paid from the $3 million in taxpayer money that Senator Chuck Grassley allowed con artist David Oman to spend before the $50 million pork grant had gone through final approval (which failed, of course).

Current plans indicate a 125,000 square-foot complex with three major components. The Stories Center will have live actors and storytellers, “flying video screens” and holographic projections. The Hall of American Literary Achievement would become a nationally-recognized facility to honor writers from all over the country and their contributions. The Iowa Language & Literacy Institute would take the third spot, and would combine research and an experimental school to help test and improve efforts to help students learn to read.

Flying video screens?

Holographic projects?

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!

And look at this. An "experimental school" to help people to read. Don't they have regular schools for that sort of thing?

This sure smells like Rainforest II, doesn't it?

If you remember, the original David Oman $280 million Rainforest plan was to have a school attached to it.

Gee, we've heard all this before, haven't we?

...you were saying something about "best intentions".....?



Updated:

More at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, whose President and CEO Chuck Peters is a "core group member" of the Stories Project. That should allow for a complete lack of objective reporting. Right?

A core development group — representing the city, the UI, educators, tourist and business groups — declined to release any financial details before today's meeting...

...State and federal funding will be sought, and a national fundraising campaign will be undertaken, organizers said.

This thing has "Taxpayer SCAM" written all over it.

You know, I don't have any problem with it if a bunch of authors and writers get together and fund the thing out of their bank accounts. But asking taxpayers to fork over more money for such an expensive boondoggle is insanity!

Prepare for war.

Thighsight Is 20/20

From the Des Moines Register:

Some of Hillary Clinton's top Iowa advisers took the blame Thursday for what they called her campaign's failure to see the change wave that prompted record turnout in the state's Democratic presidential caucuses.

As Clinton prepared to end her candidacy, influential Iowans in her caucus and national campaigns discussed what went wrong. They credited presumptive nominee Barack Obama with the foresight to harness younger voters, independents and Republicans in the caucuses.

That right there has to be the biggest load of bullshit I've ever read in the Des Moines Register.

Obama got Republicans to the caucuses for him???

On what planet???

Where is the evidence?

There is evidence that by the end of primary season that Republicans, Independents, and a whole hell of a lot of Democrats were giving Hillary Clinton landslide after landslide after landslide victory over Obama.

We continue:

Clinton's campaign did not organize as quickly and as thoroughly in all parts of the state as Obama's, Iowa advisers said. Clinton's national strategists also were less familiar with the nuts and bolts of caucus organizing than Obama's.

Bullshit!

This blog ("Is Hitlery Avoiding Iowa?"), November 30th.... 2006..... via the Political Wire:

On Fox News last night, the chairman of Iowa's Democratic party said that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is not laying the adequate groundwork for a presidenial campaign in the first caucus state and that many are starting to speculate she may not run if Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) enters the race.

Said Iowa Democratic Chair Rob Tully: "She's been quiet and, you know, there's a question that we all hear is that she may not get in this if Barack Obama gets in.

2006, people!!!

That's a year and a half ago!

More than a year before the Iowa Caucuses!

Don't forget that Hillary changed horses in Iowa in the middle of 2007, from former Harkin aide JoDee Winterhoff to Teresa Vilmain, the former Iowa campaign director for Michael Dukakis (third place in Iowa in 1988).

Why, even a year ago ("Hitlery Clinton Is Dead In Iowa"), you had Gordon Fisher and Hillary co-chair Tom Vilsack saying that she was dead meat!

It's hard to get the masses excited about a candidate when the party leaders and her co-chair have a defeatist attitude.

Survival Of The Unfittest

Buster at InMuscatine reveals that even though the company stock is down over 80% in the past 16 months, the CEO of Davenport-based media conglomerate Lee Enterprises, Mary Junck, just got herself a 17% raise...... to $3.4 million a year!

Related: LEE Presses On


Take it away, Gordon Gekko!

Meredith To Dig Out 60 Real And 60 Fake Jobs

Plantoir, the million dollar hand shovel sculpture thingee that Meredith owns


From the Des Moines Register in story headlined "Meredith To Cut 120 Jobs":

Media company Meredith Corp. will eliminate 120 jobs and take a special charge of $16 million in the fourth quarter as advertising revenue and retail books sales fall...

...The company will eliminate about 60 currently filled and 60 open positions.

I don't know how you cut a job that isn't currently filled.

Why doesn't Meredith just say they're cutting 12,000 jobs? 60 real and 11,940 jobs that never got filled. Same end result, right? It would make the "doom and gloom" crowd at the Des Moines Register a little happier.

Why, just a few years ago Meredith was so loaded with money that they could spend a million dollars on "Plantoir", the fake hand shovel by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen (see above).

Things just haven't been the same lately. The stock (MDP) is down nearly 50% in the past year.

As late as 2004, Stephen Lacey, the directorpresidentcoo of Meredith was pulling down over $3.3 million a year. Nice job. You've been very good at enriching yourself.

Not That There's Anything Wrong With It

From the Quad City Times:

It’s a category in which Iowa ranks second in the nation. But it doesn’t have anything to do with agricultural production or education.

The state has the second-largest preliminary system in the country for the Miss Gay US of A female impersonation pageant. Texas, by the way, is first.

Iowa boasts 18 preliminary competitions scheduled around the state just to qualify for the Miss Gay Iowa pageant, including the Miss Glamour preliminary that was held at Club Fusion in Davenport last month.

“Iowa happens to be one of the largest states, if you can imagine that,” said Amber Andrews, the stage director at Club Fusion, who competed in her first pageant more than three decades ago and has since competed in and judged several pageants around Illinois and Iowa. “For this area to be in the top three for preliminaries is really something.”

...Akosha Nephonix, who regularly performs in female impersonation shows at Club Fusion, swept all three categories to win the competition and will go on to compete in the Miss Gay Iowa pageant at Cedar Rapids the weekend of Oct. 2-5.

For the Quad-City competition, Nephonix modeled a yellow ball gown. The bodice was embellished by hand with sparking stones that matched her bracelet, necklace, earrings and even shoes. Her talent competition was an energetic dance complete with complicated footwork, swaying hips and even a flip in four-inch heels to a montage of Rihanna hits.

Pageant winners at all levels have the responsibilities of representing the pageant at the next level of competition, promoting the pageant system as a whole and appearing at fundraiser functions such as the annual All-Iowa AIDS Benefit in Des Moines.

Maybe the Iowa Legislature could cook up a tax break for female impersonators. Finding a pair of Manolo Blahniks in a men's size 12 is a rather expensive situation for a girl to be in.

We Get Comments

On the post "Another Landslide Victory For Hillary" are these two comments, one another another:

Independent said...

If the Cardinals were down by forty runs to the Brewers in the 7th inning, and went on to score 10 unanswered runs in the 8th and 10 unanswered runs in the 9th, THEY'D STILL BE LOSING. Just because they had big innings doesn't mean they should win the ballgame.

Come on. Hate Obama for better reasons than this BS.

Followed by this absolutely brilliant comeback:

Dorf said...

Heh, but MLB doesn't have a bunch of umpires that sit around and can add runs to your score after the game is over. :-)

Then came this:

Chris said...

State, have you ever had anything good to say about a black person, ever? It's an honest question. I know you're not in the business of handing out complements but seriously...

A few years ago, amidst bogus negative criticism of Iowa over the incarceration rate for blacks, this blog talked about how Iowa was always an abolitionist state, sent 76,000 men to the Civil War (13,000 died), and educated the likes of George Washington Carver in the 19th century and produced talents such as Simon Estes, Archie Alexander, and Cheryl Brown.

There was also a followup post "Iowa Is The Second Worst For Blacks? Part Two" following the Register's profile of Edna Griffin. This blog reproduced a historical timeline about blacks in Iowa from 1839 to 1949.

When some moron at Meredith Corporation was busted for saying "We've got to quit hiring all these black people", this blog called him an Asshole.

And anyway, Obama isn't black. His mother is white. And besides, it wasn't white people who were asking if Barack Obama was "black enough".

Besides, I'm more interested in the people that Obama has hung out with over the past 20 years ("The Company You Keep") than the color of his skin.

You know, judging people by the content of their character than the color of their skin.

Another Landslide Victory For Hillary

From the Argus Leader:

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has claimed an upset victory in the South Dakota presidential primary against rival Barack Obama...

...South Dakota appeared to be in Obama’s column a few weeks ago, and Obama enjoyed the support of almost all of the state’s prominent Democrats, including former Sen. Tom Daschle, Sen. Tim Johnson, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, and former Sen. George McGovern. McGovern had been a Clinton supporter, but he switched to Obama in May.

Hillary has had landslide victory after landslide victory after landslide victory over Obama in the past few weeks.

Despite this, the news media and the "super delegates" seem intent on giving Obama the nomination.

I swear, if Obama was a conservative Republican and not the media's darling, you'd see headline after headline about how Obama was "blowing it" and "crashing" at the end, along with concerns about his "electability" in November, and endless profiles about the crooks, terrorists, and racists he has as friends.

Not everybody is happy with this anointing of Obama. Check out Iowa City Press-Citizen blogger "mariaconz", obviously a Hillary voter ("Howard Dean and others just don't get it"):

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Obama supporters generally just don't get it. The way this game is being played, the demeaning process of choosing a Democratic nominee has gone way beyond Hillary Clinton, and whether she plays ball with Howard Dean and Barack Obama or not. It's personal now, as Froma Harrop said in her column, "White women take the gloves off."

The Democratic Party assumes that white female Democrats will fall into line and vote for Obama in the fall, but it won't be that easy. Nothing should be assumed. Whether Hillary supporters vote for McCain, write in Hillary's name, or stay home, their rage will be felt. I myself have not yet completely decided what to do. It's a serious moral dilemma with no easy answers...

...If ever a party desperately needed to be punished, it's this one, the Dems. Not the Democrats. No, no. There's nothing democratic about the Democrats. We will have to hope that Pres. McCain will shift to the left to accommodate the millions of women who will vote for him as the man who is openly, not covertly, sexist. Better the devil you know, right? At least he's open about not considering women to be his equals, including his wife, instead of cloaking his misogynistic bigotry in diversionary cries of "racism!" as the Obama partisans do.

Well, it's pretty clear that "mariaconz" won't be voting for Juan McCain. No big deal there. I don't like McVain either.

I'm kind of curious to see what Hillary and her crowd are going to do.

There's no reason why Hillary shouldn't take her fight to the convention, 11 1/2 weeks away.

Obama has lost a lot of ground in the past few months.

HE should be the one getting landslide victory after landslide victory at the end, don't you think?

Might as well let Obama's popular support continue to erode while all these foolish-looking "super delegates" (some Democrats are more equal than other Democrats) wax on about "party unity" or some such bullshit.

That's about Hillary's only last hope. Have Obama look "unelectable" against McCain in the polling and hope that some super delegates switch back. That's a longshot, though.

Once again, I bring you Harold Ickes making strong points:

Reed Vs 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.

So this kid Christopher Reed somehow won the Republican primary to challenge Democrat Tom Harkin for his Senate seat.

Look at Reed's pathetic little web site. Does that completely suck, or what?

This sucks, too:

I appreciate you visiting my site and thank you in advance for helping the Conservative Republican cause.

I want to be your senator because I firmly believe that we need to defeat fundamental liberalism in Washington DC.

Could the Republicans have come up with a worse candidate than this? Rinky-dink web site. "I" starting every paragraph.

I believe that our enemies must be dealt with harshly and swiftly and not by “talking” to or pleading with them to “just be nice to us.”

I believe that our current tax system actually punishes success and the Liberal plan to take back the current tax cuts is bad for Iowans and bad for America.

I believe that the down-trodden and less fortunate in our society need a leg-up, not a hand-out.

What the hell is this drivel???

Christopher Reed needs to be out there KICKING TOM HARKIN'S ASS on a daily basis!

Why is a goddamn "hit counter" on the main page? WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THAT?

Where's the fucking mailing list? Where's the blog? Where's the next campaign event going to be held? Where is the list of crimes against Americans and taxpayers that Tom Harkin has pulled? I have a few...... take them!

What are these stupid ass "motivational quotes" doing on your web site?

Paypal?????

Jesus Christ. The Republican Party of Iowa is SO FUCKED!

If you're not in it to win. If you're NOT SERIOUS..... then Don't Fucking Bother With Coming To The Show!

Christopher Reed is NOT SERIOUS.

The Republican Party of Iowa doesn't give a shit.

Harkin will treat Reed like he doesn't exist. As well he should.

If you're not going to fight, WHY BOTHER!!!!!!!!

The Des Moines Register Ignores Women Who Aren't Democrats

Here is every reference to Dr Mariannette Miller-Meeks, vying for the Republican spot in the 2nd Congressional District in Iowa, in the Des Moines Register between October 18, 2007 and yesterday.

October 18, 2007, by Jane Norman:

An ophthalmologist from Ottumwa said Wednesday that she probably would run for the GOP nod to challenge U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Mount Vernon Democrat, in 2008.

Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks , who was the first woman to serve as president of the Iowa Medical Society, said her interest in a 2nd District campaign stemmed from concern about the nation's health care system.

"There certainly is a lot of frustration by physicians on what's happening with health care, Medicare reimbursement, the inability to recruit doctors to a small state, especially a rural state," she said. More physicians need to be involved in increasing access to health care, she said.

Miller-Meeks , 52, said she has been registered as a no-party voter and has not been involved in politics. "It's a new kind of endeavor, one born out of frustration neither party is getting the job done," she said.

She said her family moved around because of her father's Air Force career, though they kept a home in Texas. She began her career as a nurse, then took medical courses while serving in the Army and graduated from medical school at the University of Texas.

Miller-Meeks had a residency in ophthalmology at the University of Iowa, taught at the University of Michigan, returned to join the U of I faculty in 1994 and now is on the staff of Heartland Eye Care in Ottumwa. She is married to Curt Meeks, and they have two teenage children.

Loebsack upset longtime Rep. Jim Leach, a Republican, in 2006.

November 11, 2007, 40 paragraphs into a story, is this by Jane Norman:

An Ottumwa physician, Mariannette Miller-Meeks , recently said she would likely seek the GOP nomination to run against Loebsack. Braley so far has not drawn an opponent.

January 27, 2008, 28 paragraphs into a story by Thomas Beaumont:

Two Republicans have begun organizing in Iowa's 2nd U.S. House District: Cedar Rapids funeral director Peter Tehen and Ottumwa physician Mariannette Miller-Meeks , also newcomers to politics. Democrat David Loebsack scored one of 2006's most surprising victories when he beat 30-year incumbent Republican Jim Leach.

March 6, 2008, 4 paragraphs into a story about fellow candidate Peter Teahan, by Thomas Beaumont:

Teahen is expected to face Ottumwa physician Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the June 3 Republican primary. The winner will face Loebsack, who beat 30-year incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Leach in 2006.

April 17, 2008, in a story about candidates filing reports to the FEC, by Jane Norman:

Miller-Meeks reported $28,290 in receipts, including $3,000 from her own pocket. She spent $216 and has $68,618 cash on hand.

April 20, 2008, 16 paragraphs into a story by Jane Norman:

Mariannette Miller-Meeks , an ophthalmologist from Ottumwa, reported to the Federal Election Commission that she has raised $68,834 to date, including $10,640 she has given the campaign from her own pocket. Miller-Meeks has cash on hand of $68,619.

May 23, 2008, as a deep side note to the Boswell/Fallon campaign, by Jane Norman:

2ND DISTRICT: Republican and physician Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa said she raised close to $26,000, including $5,000 from the American Medical Association PAC, and had $52,000 in the bank.

And, finally, May 31, 2008, in a story by Jennifer Jacobs on the 2nd District Republican candidates:

Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an Ottumwa ophthalmologist with a 24-year military career...

...Miller-Meeks has served 24 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve. She started out as a nurse, then became a physician and a professor, and is now an ophthalmologist in private practice. Health care is central for her campaign. She is an advocate of individual health plans, funded by tax credits for low-income people and tax deductions for higher-income people. "An individual should be able to purchase their own health insurance from numerous companies across state lines, and we should remove state mandates that create increased premiums," she said.

That's it.

Granted, the Des Moines Register said practically nothing about the other Republican candidates for the 2nd Congressional District. So much for "The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon."

But you'd think that because of David Yepsen's past hectoring about the lack of female candidates running for Governor, the House of Representatives, or the Senate that the Register would step it up.

Also worth mentioning is the lack of story on Miller-Meeks when she became the first woman president of the Iowa Medical Society in 2006. The notice was buried at the bottom of a Tony Leys story in the DMR on May 14, 2005 about outgoing IMS president Dr. Stephen Richards, which was only noteworthy because he was the first osteopathic doctor to head the Society. You'd think Miller-Meeks being the first female to head the Society would have been similarly noteworthy.

David Yepsen Is A "Deeply Sexist Reporter"

David Yepsen

From the Krusty Konservative:

...I’m looking for a kandidate who has konservative values and who has the best shot at winning in November. If you read this blog you probably already know that my choice [for the Iowa 2nd Congressional District] is Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

As I mentioned earlier this morning, to defeat Congressman Dave Loebsack this fall we need to have a well rounded kandidate who can build a large koalition of people on many issues, not just the one issue.

Miller-Meeks is intelligent, hard-working, well-read, and most importantly qualified. Her life story is impressive. She came from nothing, but with hard work and determination she became a successful physician, that story also parallels with her kampaign for kongress. She didn’t expect anyone to give her anything instead; she just went out and worked for it.

People like David Yepsen always bemoan the fact that [Iowa] has never elected a woman to serve as governor or as a member of kongress. Do you know how many stories Yepsen has written about her kampaign? None. Heck, I don’t even think he has written about the 2nd district primary.

Here's David Yepsen in March 2005, talking about Democrat Roxanne Conlin:

It's Women's History Month, a time for news organizations to examine the successes, failures and contributions of women in society.

Invariably, that leads to the question of why Iowa has never elected a woman to the governorship, U.S. House or the U.S. Senate. Invariably, that leads to a discussion of why Roxanne Conlin lost the governorship in 1982. Register reporter Lynn Campbell reported Monday that Conlin said she was the victim of "deeply sexist" reporters.

I don't know much about Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, but I'm wondering what David Yepsen's response is going to be.

Perhaps crickets chirping?

Des Moines, The Dropout Factory

From the Des Moines Register:

One in three students who started high school in Des Moines from 2001 to 2003 did not graduate from the district four years later, a Des Moines Register review of enrollment data shows.

The figure was one in four in the 1990s.

The numbers, while different from the district's official dropout rate, provide fodder for a wider, ongoing discussion on how to track how many students in Iowa's largest district move away, drop out or stay in school long enough to earn diplomas.

The issue, and the inclusion of three Des Moines schools in a national "dropout factory" report in 2007, has dominated school board discussion since member Jonathan Narcisse earlier this year demanded that a dropout rate be calculated using the number of freshmen and the number of graduates four years later.

School officials estimate that about half of the students who don't graduate transfer to another district, but Narcisse and others point out that surrounding schools report no corresponding influx of Des Moines students.

"And they're not all leaving the state to complete their education," Narcisse said. "It just doesn't happen."

And read this:

The Des Moines data, which follow three classes of freshmen through school, show that Roosevelt and Hoover high schools consistently report the highest completion rates, in the 70 percent range, and see the fewest students transfer to other schools within the district. North and East high schools have the lowest completion rates and the highest turnover; Lincoln falls in the middle.

And finally, this:

Next year, Des Moines' two largest high schools, East and Lincoln, will have freshman-only buildings, and grants have allowed them to hire extra teachers and people like Ferguson to keep students on track and explain concepts like grade-point averages.

"The district continues to expand its college course offerings, and some schools have put more classes online to make it easier for students who struggle with time.

"Their life situation doesn't always fit into a seven-period day or our structure," East High counselor Kathy Clausen said.

Future Pathways, a "credit recovery" program born two years ago, also shows promise. About 120 students will graduate this spring; about 560 students were enrolled this year, mostly juniors and seniors. The program has a waiting list.

Teiler Haines, 17, and others said they love the Future Pathways approach but added that it won't be the end-all solution.

"My problem was I wanted to fight the system," she said. "They couldn't adapt to me being different. There are all different places, and people just have to find where to go."

The market is calling for different types of high schools.

Yes, that's right. I said it. And I'll say it again:

The market is calling for different types of high schools.

The problem with so many people running larger school districts these days is that they want a Philip Armour-style approach to education. They want an "efficient" assembly line where every kid who qualifies gets their free breakfast, free lunch, PE class, test scores, and social promotion. If they have to, they'll suggest that the kid either get on drugs (Ritalin, Prozac, etc) to stay a zombie and focus, or get off drugs (marijuana, alcohol) in order to focus. Buck the system and the kid winds up a statistic that the administrators don't want to track.

Nicholas Johnson has talked in the past ("The Limits of Duct Tape", January 9, 2008) about how high schools should become smaller and more numerous. That's a good idea.

This blog has also said in the past that students who qualify should be able to graduate at age 16. Do most people really care about crap like valedictorians, prom, homecoming, and the business of high school sports? Not those who attended Scavo and Casady in Des Moines. Why can't there be high schools created without all the extra pomp and money-wasting nonsense? Why aren't more classes online for kids to take and get out of the way? But if you graduated kids at age 16 who were ready to go on to college or a trade school then you'd cut into all the money that school districts now get by warehousing them until age 18.

What's the answer? Who knows.

Do school districts with smaller-sized high schools have better retention rates? Do alternative high schools work? Should there be "no frills" high schools? Should above-average children be able to get high school out of the way and to move along to something more challenging? Should "immigrant" children who don't know English be separated and "immersed" in English before moving into a traditional classroom setting? I believe that a lot of stupidertendents simply can't think this creatively or would rather cruise along with a system that continues to fail too many children. After all, isn't it easier to just Blame Bush and keep that disassembly line going?

Mike Gronstal Is Obviously A Hypocrite

From the Des Moines Register:

Feeling uneasy about Iowa's budget? For good reason, based on state Auditor David Vaudt's recent report: Democratic lawmakers hid some spending and sidestepped state spending limitations by shifting $444 million in general-fund expenses to special accounts for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

That's a record, but the practice is nothing new. When Republicans led the Legislature, they did the same thing, and were criticized, too...

...Mike Gronstal, Senate majority leader, said he is not comfortable with dipping into special funds, and wants to move away from doing that. But it has to be done in the context of establishing policies that better protect middle-class Iowans, said the Council Bluffs Democrat.

"We fully agree this budget is not perfect, and it was not easy to dig ourselves out of all the bad budget practices the Republicans engaged in, but in every respect this budget improves on the previous Republican budgets," he said. Gronstal also said he believes Democrats have put more money into special accounts than Republicans did.

Why it was just a year ago that Gronstal exploded in rage at some citizen advocates in favor of "clean elections" by yelling "You can kiss my ass!!!" and then screaming "FUCK YOU!!!!!!" at them.

I'm surprised that Gronstal didn't erupt and send a similar lava flow of expletives in Vaudt's direction.

Last I saw, Terrace Hill has been occupied by a Democrat since January 15, 1999. The Iowa Legislature was evenly split between 2004 and 2006, and since then the Democrats have had firm control of everything. Shouldn't life just be peachy and perfect?

Oh, and I guess Gronstal forgot about this from February 2002:

Gov. Tom Vilsack Monday asked lawmakers to take $120 million from the state's "rainy day" fund to prevent him from having to make budget cuts, the Des Moines Register reports.

Is this what Gronstal is referring to when he talks about "all the bad budget practices the Republicans engaged in..." ?


The Legislature spent a phony $330 million surplus in 2006 to refill the Senior Living Trust and other "rainy day" accounts.

Is this what Gronstal is referring to when he says that "Democrats have put more money into special accounts than Republicans did" ?


Don't forget Vilsack's main priority during his regime. It was establishing Iowa as the land of taxpayer-financed corporate welfare. This is from David Hogberg's National Review story in 2004:

Instead of taking the $100 million that the federal government sent to Iowa last year and using it to shore up this year's budget, Vilsack spent it on his economic-development boondoggle called the Grow Iowa Values (GIV) fund. The GIV fund is supposed to boost Iowa's economy by giving state grants to companies willing to move to or expand in Iowa. In other words, it's corporate welfare.

Is this what Gronstal was referring to when he was talking about "better protect[ing] middle-class Iowans"?


State government was going to get $2 billion over 25 years because Attorney General Tom Miller (D) shook down the tobacco companies in the late 1990s under the phony guise that smoking-related health care costs were costing the State a lot of money, but by 2002 they sold off the rights for a pittance: $500 million, all which was spent by this spring on things other than smoking cessation efforts.

And don't forget this by Imron Bhatti in the Daily Iowan in 2006:

Vilsack's focus on education is belied by the regents he appointed overseeing plummeting budgets and skyrocketing tuition at the state's institutions of higher learning. His Republican predecessor, Terry Branstad, left him with a surplus of nearly $1.5 billion, despite the farm crisis that battered Iowa's economy throughout the 1980s. Within five years of Vilsack's entry into office, Iowa was $1 billion in the red.

Of course, it didn't help that Republicans started smoking the same crack as the Democrats. This is from Radio Iowa on March 15, 2004, five years into the Vilsack regime:

Republican legislators intend to dip into special state savings accounts to come up with more money for their spending plans for next year. Republicans want to use 160 million that's in the state's cash reserve and another 132 million from the senior living trust fund to ensure more spending for key areas like education and public safety. Republicans have often criticized the idea of dipping into rainy day savings accounts, but not this year. House Speaker Christopher Rants, a republican from Sioux City, says it's a better idea than democrat Governor Tom Vilsack's idea of raising taxes. Rants says he doesn't understand why they'd ask Iowans to pay more in taxes when they have 160 million dollars sitting in a bank account that could be spent instead.

Is this what Gronstal is referring to?

You know.... Republicans acting like Democrats?

No wonder the Republicans lost the Iowa Legislature in 2006. When Republicans start acting like a bunch of crack-smoking Democrats who are wildly spending every dime available like a drunken sailor, what can the voters do?

Is it any wonder why Mr Softy, aka Jim Leach, lost in 2006 to beardo prof Dave Loebsack? Republicans didn't have anybody to vote for! Might as well not vote and let a Democrat take the office. What's the difference?

One final thing, again from the Hogberg article:

Overspending got Iowa into this mess, with total state spending seeing a real increase of about 20 percent from fiscal year 1994-2001. Now the governor [Vilsack in 2004] wants to compound the problem with a 6.2-percent increase in general-fund spending for fiscal year 2005. Consider that last year inflation was 2.3 percent, and Iowa population growth from 2001-2002 was 0.16 percent. In other words, Vilsack wants an increase that is 2.7 times higher than inflation and 38 times higher than population growth.

Ah, but don't worry. Governor Culver says “Gov. Vilsack has made real progress. Most of all, our financial house is in order.”

And finally, here's Mike Gronstal getting all "bi-partisan" when talking about "fiscal responsibility" in December 2007. Watch the beginning where Gronstal is talking, and then when he's done fast forward to 6 minutes and 45 seconds into the video to demonstrate what a total hypocritical ass he is:

Tom Vilsack Throws Hillary Clinton Under The Bus

Found via Kay Henderson's Radio Iowa blog. Here's a story from Time Magazine today:

Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor and a national co-chairman of Clinton's campaign, said Sunday: "It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee. After Tuesday's contests, she needs to acknowledge that he's going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him."

Even though Hillary keeps winning primaries against Obama in landslide after landslide after landslide?

I'll say one thing. Vilsack is no Harold Ickes:



I'm no fan of Harold Ickes, but - dammit - he's right!

And then there's Ickes on Meet The Depressed yesterday:



Ickes is also right about Hillary's big performance in those electoral-rich swing states

Sure, maybe Ickes backpedals on the whole "delegates choose the nominee" thing, but he's got a point.

Plus, you've got Hillary winning landslide after landslide after landslide in the final month of the campaign!

Just because Obama might get to some magical number thanks to the "super delegates" (some Democrats are more equal than other Democrats) doesn't mean he's the better candidate.

You Democrats do know that Obama is going to get reamed in the general election, particularly in those Southern states. Don't you?

White male and female Democrats would rather choose a "fake Republican" like John McCain than some Chicago Machine politician who has crooks, terrorists, and racists as friends.

And what about the Hillary faithful? Will they write her name in? Will they vote for Ralph Nader?

Or will the Hillary faithful vote for McCain to ensure a landslide and career defeat for Obama and the chance to bring back their golden girl in 2012?

My money is on the latter.

Oh, and that cabinet job you wanted, Tom Vilsack? Well, while "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" is the Democratic mantra, Hillary doesn't forget loyalty.

Democrats Want English-Only Overturned In Iowa By Any Means Necessary

From the Des Moines Register by William "Tool" Petroski:

State officials are studying whether federal civil rights laws override Iowa's "English-only" law that prohibits publication of official government communications in foreign languages.

"State officials"???

Are you kidding me?

How about telling the truth, Petroski? You need to insert the word "Democrat" in front of "State officials".

I'll make the correction:

Democrat state officials are studying whether federal civil rights laws override Iowa's "English-only" law that prohibits publication of official government communications in foreign languages.

Publishing the state documents only in English could cause Iowa to lose federal money for such things as transportation-related projects, Democrat state officials said.

Democrats in the Iowa attorney general's office [are] reviewing whether federal laws supersede a March ruling in Polk County District Court that upheld a 2002 state law mandating use of the English language, said Robert Brammer, spokesman for the Iowa attorney general's office.

81% of Iowans are in favor of the English-only law.

Democrats in the Iowa Attorney General's office might want to look at one of the requirements for Naturalization:

Applicants for naturalization must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language.

But never mind that.

Democrats are all about allowing illegal aliens to vote in order to keep themselves in power.

First, Democrats like Tom Vilsack tried to bring them to Iowa as slave labor.

Vilsack had the backing of numerous dimwitted Democrats running the various Chambers of Commerce throughout the state.

When that didn't work Democrats thought it was OK to jam 10 or 15 illegals in a minivan to work in slave labor conditions.

Then, when companies like Agriprocessors get busted repeatedly for exploiting these workers and destroying the environment and violating every labor law, Democrats in the Iowa Legislature made sure nobody running the company is arrested and that employing 13 year olds will only get you a $60 fine.

Bonus points for the media by writing a seemingly endless supply of sob stories.

Extra bonus points for the media if they push the idea that illegal aliens should be given driver's licenses (so they can sign up for Motor Voter and vote for Democrats).

After all only Democrats (here and here) want to give driver's licenses to illegals.

Democrats in Iowa have already given the green light to same day voter fraud.

Don't forget that Democrat Tom Harkin voted to give illegals Social Security checks.

And if all else fails, you've got the clergy in Iowa telling illegal Latinos to riot and to become terrorists.

About the only Democrat who is against repealing the English-only law in Iowa is Ed Fallon:

[Then] State Rep. Ed Fallon said revisiting the issue would be counterproductive. "Let sleeping dogs lie," said Fallon, a vocal opponent of the law during the 2002 debate. "Let's do something meaningful for the Latino community."

And you know what's funny? That the Des Moines Register is advocating the repeal of English-only. This is a newspaper that doesn't print a single edition in Spanish, Laotian, Vietnamese, or Bosnian. Heck, they don't even print their legal notices in anything other than English!

But you know that if the Democrats found a way to litigate around what the Legislature enacted and what a vast majority of voters approve of, the Register would probably go back to the State and request that taxpayers be forced to pay for the printing of legal notices in every language imaginable. It's about about the money! Revenue is needed when your parent company's stock is down 50% in the past year!

And now, for your entertainment this morning, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre: