So Much For Diversity

According to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Teresa Wagner's lawsuit against UI Law School Dean Carolyn Jones over conservative political bias in hiring was dismissed with prejudice by (Reagan-appointed, Grassley-nominated) Federal District Judge Charles Wolle on Tuesday.

Wagner's lawsuit indicated that the law school faculty of 50 contained 46 registered Democrats and 1 registered Republican.

In late 2007, it was discovered that the entire University of Iowa faculty only contained 8% registered Republicans.

If You're A Google Perv, State 29 Is A Likely Destination

Jordan Monroe, nee Emily Ranheim, Iowa's first Playboy Playmate

Back in November 2006, this blog has a post called You People Are Obsessed With Sex, and it seems that's still the case.

A lot of people find this blog via Google searches, and I'm amused to say that the bulk of you are still looking for information on Jordan Monroe (slightly NSFW link, depending on your Google Image settings), Iowa's first Playboy Playmate, Anna Malle, a deceased pornstar who grew up in Fort Madison, or..... Steve King.

While this blog does have classy points of entry, such as the term "prostitution in Iowa", there are many useful hits for things such as "Iowa Agricultural Finance Corporation".

It's funny stuff to me, and those of you who are regulars might get a chuckle out of it.

You Promised If We Raised Our Taxes You'd Build Us A New High School

In the Cedar Rapids Gazette there is a story about how parents in North Liberty were pissed off in a forum about how the Iowa City Community School District isn't interested in building a high school there, despite people in that district voting to enact a local option sales tax a couple years ago which was sold to voters as a means of building a high school in that growing community.

This is such a delicious cluster-youknowwhat. It totally reminds me of 10 years ago in Des Moines when Stupidertendent Eric Witherspoon, the frauds at the Des Moines Register, and other pro-tax liberals wanted Polk County to get a local option sales tax enacted so that no schools would be closed. After several attempts, the sales tax got enacted by something like 43 votes, and then Witherspoon started closing schools. Then, when the tax was coming up for renewal after 10 years and would surely be voted down due to lies by the District, the Democrats in the Iowa Legislature removed the "option" from local option sales taxes in Iowa.

Hey, parents and voters. When are you going to learn? "It's for the children" is baloney. It's a total lie. Once you enact a tax, you can never get rid of it. And the politicians always spend it elsewhere. Oh, they promise, but they never deliver.

Quoted in the Gazette story is our new pet, Tuyet Dorau, who is a new board member to the ICCSD, and one who runs her mouth too much. This time, Dorau said to the parents "Times have changed from when we passed the SILO tax until now. Right now, it’s not financially feasible to operate a third high school."

In other words: too bad SUCKAS!

Davenport Idiots Try To Rename "Good Friday" To "Spring Holiday"

Drudge linked over to an ABC News story about how the Davenport Civil Rights Commission put forth some stupid request in 2009 that suggested renaming "Good Friday" to "Spring Holiday" because the Commission's collective lack of brain cells.

The Quad City Times is reporting that due to numerous city employees being outraged (council members, the cops, Christians, ordinary citizens with brains in their heads) that this was being corrected. The interesting thing is that the City Council hadn't even voted on it.

So what sort of radical nitwits made up the Davenport Civil Rights Commission in 2009?

You have to look up one of the fall 2009 newsletters for the Davenport Civil Rights Commission to discover who is on the board.

For easy reference here are the names as of fall 2009:

• Tim Hart (chairman)
• Jackie Bostic
• Clyde Mayfield
  
• Arun Pillutla
• Nora Dvorak
• Alan Egly
• Ernest Rodriguez

Other staff members include:

• Judith Morrell (executive director)

I won't list the other staff member names as they probably aren't involved in this decision.

The Davenport Civil Rights Commission's address is:

226 W. 4th St
Davenport, IA 52801
ph 563-326-7888
fx 563-326-7956

Current commissioners can be found here.

Tim Hart is still the chairman. He's a real estate agent with Ruhl & Ruhl Reality. You can email him at: timhart@ruhlhomes.com

An interesting thing in Hart's bio is that he "currently sits on the Board of Directors of his church". I wonder what kind of church he belongs to?

I offer this information as a public service only because the news accounts of the press release were rather thin on information. You really need to know what kind of appointed leftist dumbasses make up these boards.

Des Moines Register To Health Care Users: DROP DEAD

Saturday's editorial by the geniuses on the Des Moines Register Editorial Board basically boils down to:

"America must ration health care"

"Stop going to the doctor"

and

"Don't get preventative screenings"

Again, who are these geniuses on the Register's Editorial Board?

And what qualifies them to give this sort of medical advice?

Laura Hollingsworth is the Register's President and Publisher. She has a bachelor's degree in communication and is a Gannettoid lifer. Who the hell is she to suggest that people should see the doctor less?

Carolyn Washburn is the Register's Editor and Vice-President. She has a degree in something from Indiana University and has been in the newspaper industry since 1984. Who the hell is she to suggest that people should see the doctor less?

Linda Lantor Fandel is the Editorial page editor for the Register. She has a political science degree with honors, and also studied Russian in graduate school. Who the hell is she to suggest that people should see the doctor less?

Rox Laird is an Editorial writer and beta male for the Register. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from ISU. Who the hell is he to suggest that people should see the doctor less?

Andie Dominick is an Editorial writer for the Register. She has a bachelor's in English and a master's in creative writing from ISU. Who the hell is she to suggest that people should see the doctor less?

Comments to this editorial include:

How ironic. After being told for 2 years of "50 million people in pain and suffering," without health care. Now the price will double, and it's suggested everybody who already pay -- they use less health care.

The slide downhill continues.

The DMR editorial board has a utility of zero.

We Americans need to cut back on our health care so the illegal aliens can get if for free.

Apparently going that extra mile for our families and personal satisfaction is not fair to those do not.

Contrary to dem rhetoric, insurance premiums will go up further, taxes go up further, more federal madates like medicaid will be passed onto the state of Iowa, which is ill prepared at the moment to even buy a Des Moines Register subscription!! amen

Whenever I call a nurse to tell them of my condition, they usually say, "come to the emergency room immediately". Should I listen to my nurse or to the authors of this article??

"The way to reduce spending in health care is to spend less. One way to spend less is to use less care." OK, you first. Please remember this when you get in a car accident, slip on ice, fall off the ladder, develop a heart condition, etc. I don't think the common cold is driving premiums higher every year.

Not to stick up for the insurance companies, but being upset by some of their efforts / seek to outlaw them, and then to applaud the gov't doing the same thing is being hypocritical.

A bit ironic that the editorial board was in favor of extending healthcare to more Americans, which would allow more access to preventitive care, only to pen this article which says now that this is accomplished, that everyone needs to use less preventitive care.

What a worthless, piece of crap rag the Des Moines Register still is, run by a bunch of radical commie ideologues, liars, and complete idiots.

I'm sure these dumbasses, with their college degrees in journalism and creative writing, would love to be a panel deciding who gets what treatment and who gets nothing.

Haven't you people realized that it's time to declare total war on the media? Don't talk to these morons. Stop buying that newspaper. Cancel your subscription. Overwhelm them with emails. Call advertisers and tell them to STOP ADVERTISING. Quit feeding this beast. Go ahead and keep looking online if you must. That's a money loser for them. But don't do anything that pays their way.

Iowa Libwatch: Tuyet Dorau

The Iowa City Press-Citizen has been covering that school district's redistricting plan over the past several months. From what I've read it's been entirely contentious with the radical liberal nitwits in charge of the district pushing plans to shuffle children around based on free-or-reduced-price lunch statistics. This is a surefire loser of an idea and a money-burner.

Today the P-C kicks off a series of brown-nosing profiles of these comrades and I wanted to point out a specific person because this blog has mentioned her in the past. I'm talking about the P-C's profile of Tuyet Dorau, a recently-elected school board member.

It's clear from what I've read in the past and from what people have emailed me that Dorau is the anti-Narcissse. She seems to be a rabid leftist ideologue, disdainful of anything other than her opinion, and likely a snooty class-warfare type who lives in a very expensive neighborhood in Coralville yet wants to arrange the lives of "poor" people. Although she has claimed to more than one person that she is a political independent, don't let that fool you. She executes ideas exactly the way a leftist hack would.

Just a month ago, Dorau spoke out-of-order and suggested that the Iowa City Community School District should perform a hostile takeover of part of the Clear Creek Amana school district in order to "take" their new high school to solve enrollment problems on the west side of Iowa City. Even this was too much for the leftist ICCSD school board, who quickly had to issue an apology to the CCA district.

Dorau is somebody who should be watched closely as it seems to me that she has political aspirations. The destructive always do, don't they? While she doesn't have a law degree (just a psychology degree), that doesn't stop rabid leftist ideologues from planting themselves in relatively "safe" districts and getting elected to higher offices (Ako Abdul-Samad, Joe Bolkcom, Herman Quirmbach, etc). Or, in the case of Staci Appel, who just got lucky.

As for the P-C profile, it's typical puff piece nonsense. Dorau's big mouth scandal doesn't get a mention until page 3 of the profile and then only in passing. There's no opposing viewpoint, and judging from past comments in stories in the P-C she has a long list of people who dislike her solely for her opinions, which are radical and upsetting since she clearly disfavors neighborhood schools for everybody. The only mention of opposition to her views comes as a likely-unverified-by-the-reporter mention of "racial slurs", a typical leftist complaint that never seems to pan out as truthful.

The whole profile seems like nothing but a leftist circle-the-wagons-jerk, but that's typical for the Gannettoids at the P-C.

So keep your eye on Tuyet Dorau. She seems like the kind of liberal wacko whose views and opinions Iowans will be paying for in the years to come.

What You Need To Ask Boswell, Braley, and Loebsack

Next time you see Leonard Boswell, or the sweaty, creepy-looking Bruce Braley, or bearded Dave Loebsack, ask them if they've read the health care reform bill.

All 2400 pages of it.

Go print off a copy and take it with you.

Ask them some questions directly from the bill itself.

"Here on page 1874 the bill says........."

Make sure you bring a video camera.

John Deere Says Obamacare Will Cost $150 Million, Des Moines Register Yawns

John Deere, Iowa's largest manufacturer, issued a company statement that said Obamacare would cost the company $150 million after taxes this year.

The Des Moines Register, Iowa's worthless leftist rag, barely mentioned it on their web site and basically shoved the entire story to their "Green Fields" blog.

(for those of you who don't know what blogs are, please read "Perhaps you have not heard of blogs" by the DMR's Ken Fuson from 2005)

This had to be a difficult decision for the Communist Gannettoids.

On one hand you have one of Iowa's leading employers (other than government, which is the largest) that now has $150 million less to spend on hiring, innovation, and marketing.

On the other hand, you have the Messiah, with his victory, and his victory lap campaign speech in Iowa City. I mean, he's so historic! He's so articulate and bright and clean. And with no negro dialect! Slobber slobber slobber slobber, puddle.

You can see that fat-assed Carolyn Washburn pondering it for about 2 seconds before punting the story over to the blogs.

(for those of you who don't know what blogs are, please read "Perhaps you have not heard of blogs" by the DMR's Ken Fuson from 2005)

Obama To Veterans In Iowa City: Drop Dead

So Obama went to Iowa City on Thursday to campaign for a health care reform bill he had already signed.

But did Obama visit the VA Hospital, located less than a half mile from his speech location, the UI Field House?

No.

Instead, Obama went downtown to Prairie Lights bookstore and spent $37 on some books for his kids.

Pay No Attention To That Unemployed Man Behind The Curtain

The Cedar Rapids Gazette has one of the most "manipulative headlines" of the year:

State job situation improving, but jobless rate gets worse

In the story there is no indication that things are improving other than some quote from a government flunky ("Iowa’s nonfarm employment has been in positive territory for two consecutive months"), which is backed up by zero data in the story.

Hard Times For Democrats In The Midwest

Public Policy Polling has an interesting post about Democrat chances in Midwestern US states for the November 2010 elections:

Barack Obama's approval numbers in the two places we polled this week- Wisconsin and Ohio- tell the story. He won Wisconsin by 14 points in 2008 but we find his approval there at a net -2 (46/48) for a 16 point drop since the election. It's a similar story in Ohio. He won there by four points in 2008 but our approval numbers there for him tomorrow will show him at -13 (40/53) for a drop of 17 points. If his national approval rating was falling the way it is in these two states he'd be at about 43/53 for the whole country.

If the election was today Democrats would likely lose something they currently hold in every state where they have something to lose- Pennsylvania Governor and perhaps Senate, Michigan Governor, Ohio Governor, Indiana Senate, Iowa Governor, Wisconsin Governor and perhaps Senate, and Illinois Senate and/or Governor. Only Minnesota doesn't join the party because Democrats have nothing to lose there.

What all this really makes me wonder is just how many House seats Democrats are going to lose in the region this year.

Well, gee, when you've got Democrats losing big in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, what do you think is going to happen in the Midwest?

Look at Indiana. Evan Bayh isn't running for re-election in the Senate. Brad Ellsworth, the Democrat who will be running, can't poll higher than 34% against any potential Republican challenger. Not only is that number bad, but 63% of Indiana voters are against the health care reform bill that was passed. Ya think that's going to improve at all in the next 7 months?

I'm curious where the polls are for Iowa candidates. I know Iowans are stick-in-the-muds who will keep voting the same loser incumbents back to office, but will 2010 be different? No, I'm not talking about Chuck Grassley, who I despise yet who will likely win re-election, especially if he's up against rapist defender and Democrat Roxanne Conlin. Conlin seems to be polling the best amongst potential Democrats (Bob Krause and Tom Fiegen), with her number currently topping out at 36%. That's not good.

Will Leonard Boswell make it back to DC? Only if the Republicans don't run a fraud RINO like Jeff Lameberti again.

Will the sweaty, creepy-looking Bruce Braley face the public and become even more sweaty and creepy-looking as his poll numbers fade?

Will bearded political science professor, professional PAC whore, and Democrat drone Dave Loebsack finally be sent back to Mt Vernon (no, not that Mt Vernon) and Cornell (no, not that Cornell) in favor of somebody who has actually read the Constitution and plans to read the bills they vote on?

You won't see any polling done by the newspapers for a long time. The Des Moines Register's running out of cash and can't afford to buy any polls for a while, and certainly not any that favor Republicans over Democrats. God forbid. Other newspapers in Iowa are broke, or they're too busy cozying up to scumbags in order to whitewash the truth in their pornographic stories.

My own thoughts?

It's conventional wisdom that Democrats will lose control of the House. That's at least 40 seats. Some seem to be thinking Democrats could lose more than 50 seats, which would be a 1994-style trashing.

I would not be surprised if Democrats lose 80 or 90 seats in November. Maybe even 100. I'll be conservative and predict at least 75 losses for Democrats.

As the Senate, well if Barbara Boxer is polling even and can't get above 43% in California, the Democrats are totally screwed. They will likely lose the Senate, too.

You Lie, Steve King!

Do you believe this crap?

U.S. Congressman Steve King

Iowa’s Fifth Congressional District

http://www.house.gov/steveking/

http://www.facebook.com/Rep.SteveKing

http://www.twitter.com/SteveKingIA

_____________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Matt Lahr

March 24, 2010 Office: 202.225.4426

King Welcomes President Obama to Iowa

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Steve King (R-IA) today made the following statement regarding President Barack Obama’s visit to Iowa on Thursday.


“I want to thank President Obama for coming to Iowa, and I welcome him back to the Midwest. We always look forward to seeing Air Force One on Iowa soil. Anytime the sitting President of the United States visits your state, it is a good thing. President Obama recognizes that Iowa represents the heartland of America, and I commend him for his interest in our state.”

-#-

----
Matt Lahr
Press Secretary
Congressman Steve King
202-225-4426 (p)
202-225-3193 (f)
Follow Steve King on Twitter and Facebook
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SteveKingIA
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepSteveKing

You know, it's better to say nothing than to lie.

You lie, Steve King!

You don't really mean that about Obama, now do you? Admit it.

Half Staff

Today the Iowa City Press-Citizen used the above photo from a campaign visit in Iowa City in 2008 when promoting a story about the Obama speech scheduled there for Thursday.

How telling, that flag.


Update: Do you think Obama will visit the Veteran's Hospital in Iowa City, located a mile or so away from the Field House?

Cedar Rapids Gazette Continues To Exploit Jetseta Gage's Story By Brown-Nosing With Her Mom

The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a disgusting story on the 5 year anniversary of the rape and murder of Jetseta Gage. All you have to do is look at the comments to see what the opinion of mother Trena Gage is after all these years. It's no different than what this blog was saying at the time. I'll save you from having to look: it's very negative.

The continuous whitewashing of this story by the brain-dead media is sickening.

Lyle Muller, you idiot of an editor, do you need to repeat the ghastly details of Jetseta's murder like the pornographer you are?

Trish Mehaffey, the reporterette who wrote the piece, you dumbass brown-nosing piece of shit, do you think we don't know what went on with Trena Gage or Richelle Hunter or any of the other scumbags involved with the Bentley brothers who covered this up?

This is journalism at rock bottom.

Obama Speaking In Iowa City On Thursday To A Select Few

Interesting how Barack Obama is coming to Iowa City on Thursday to give a speech at the Field House on the impact of the health care destruction bill.

The Field House isn't very big anymore, is it? According to this page, it only holds 1500. Meanwhile, the basketball stadium, Carver-Hawkeye Arena, holds over 15,000 people. How come they're holding the speech in such a tiny place? Was Gabe's Oasis already booked?

It's always good to have a smoker tell you what should be done about health care, right? Maybe Obama to smoker will say he won this for Ted Kennedy, the drunk, the murderer, the fat guy:

Obamacare Protests In Iowa

The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a story about 50 people protesting at Congressman Dave Loebsack's office on Saturday over the Obamacare bill in Congress.

The Des Moines Register had an editorial on March 19th, but it's about what you'd expect: short on facts, long on lies, and full of hype.

You protesters shouldn't be picketing a Congressman's office.

You should picketing media outlets, like newspapers.

For instance, when have Iowa newspapers said anything about what's in these bills?

Has there been any talk about mandating Federal funding of abortions? Any talk of the racist quota mandate for medical schools? Any mention of how, deep within the bill, is a Federal takeover of the private student loan industry (except for one bank in North Dakota)? Any mention of the gutting of Medicare Advantage and double-counting half a trillion dollars in "savings" while leaving trillions more "off the books"? Are there any articles about how most doctors want to drop any new Medicare patients? Anything about polls showing a significant percentage of doctors may just quit medicine altogether? You know, details like that.

There might have been a superficial mention in some AP article, but generally the liberals running Iowa newspapers have chosen to ignore all this, ignore the facts, ignore the political payoffs, and ignore the lies about how it'll only cost $940 billion, but we'll save $130-some billion on the deficit over ten years, blahlablahalhabaldhablahblah.

Your war is not against bearded Dave Loebsack or old fart Leonard Boswell or that sweaty, creepy-looking Bruce Braley. They're going to do what they've been told to do. They are drones.

Your war ought to be against Laura Hollingsworth, Linda Lantor Fandel, Carolyn Washburn, Dave Storey, Lyle Muller, Jeff Charis-Carlson, Jim Lewers, Mike Beck, David Braton, Nancy Rafensberger-Newhoff, Julie Bechtel, Jan Touney, Tom Hawley, Judy Krieger, and people like that. People who decide what's the news.

Maybe even include the dumbasses who work for local affiliates of the alphabet TV stations, you know, the really stupid people.

The media has done a lousy ass job of presenting the facts. Don't you think?

You people should show up on a Saturday outside some newspaper or TV station and have several hundred or several thousand people protesting. They'd sent out a camera crew and some 20-something J-school graduate chickee and the entire thing would be embarrassing to the media because the chickee would be standing there stupidly trying to defend the shit and lies they routinely pump out. Sure, they'd get final cut, but you'd have raw video and audio up on YouTube.

The political war will be decided in November 2010 and November 2012.

The ongoing war needs to be directed at the media.

Congrats to the UNI Panthers

There's a lot of depressed Jayhawk fans down here.

Not only did UNI beat the #1 seed Kansas, they beat the #1 team overall. Excellent job, Panthers!

Tom Vilsack's Honey Creek Resort At Rathbun Lake To Be Bailed Out By Taxpayers

According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Honey Creek Resort at Rathbun Lake in Southern Iowa, financed by the sale of bonds by the State, can't pay it's own debt as a proper business. Instead, the DNR is dipping into some fund to cover it.

This is one of former Governor Tom Vilsack's grand schemes, and it was green-lighted by the Iowa Legislature during his tenure. Everybody's blaming the "bad economy" of the Obama years, but would this resort have been able to pay it's own way even during the good economic times during George W. Bush?

You have to wonder about the rationale behind building an upscale resort in a county with only 13,000 people, where the population has been declining for 80 years, and where the median household income is only $28,000 a year.

Government knows best, don't they? Now let's get on with an unconstitutional takeover of the health care and insurance industries by Democrats in Washington DC. We'll only have to spend a few trillion to save $130 billion over 10 years. You'll find out what's in the bill after it passes when Pelosi deems it to be done, you dolts.

Mark McCormick Is Biased

The Des Moines Register has every anti-American liberal nitwit writing op-eds for them, don't they?

And the Register does an excellent job of not disclosing the op-ed writer's bias. I'm sure you can see where this is heading.

Today's defense in the Register of the wretched Obama Administration is of our crooked Justice Department under Eric Holder and is made by former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark McCormick.

McCormick defends the crooked Eric Holder, who refused to name the 9 lawyers currently working for the Justice Department who had earlier represented or advocated for terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay. This was in response to an inquiry by Senator Chuck Grassley.

Not only does McCormick automatically assume that the terrorist-defenders who are now working for the DoJ under Holder (whose law firm represented many of these detainees) don't have any conflict of interest, but that we should just assume that these lawyers have ethics that are as clean as the wind-driven snow.

You believe that crap?

It's not like Mark McCormick is biased or anything, having donated overwhelmingly to the Democratic Party:

First off, let's get the one donation to a RINO out of the way. McCormick donated $500 to John McCain is the 1st quarter of 2008, primary season.

But by the third quarter of 2008, McCormick had donated $400 to Barack Obama's campaign.

Let's look a little deeper into McCormick's past political contributions via the IECDB State/Local Campaign Disclosure Reports:

• 11/12/09 - $100 to Sarcone for County Attorney (Democrat)
  
• 8/25/09 - $500 to Chet Culver Committee (Democrat)
• 8/5/08 - $100 to Committee to Elect Michael A. Mauro (Democrat)
• 3/19/08 - $125 to Iowa Democratic Party
  
• 10/10/06 - $250 to Planned Parenthood Voters of Iowa PAC
• 9/14/06 - $250 to Iowa Democratic Party
• 4/27/06 - $500 to Blouin for Governor (Democrat)
• 4/24/06 - $150 to Iowa Democratic Party
• 3/29/06 - $260 to Iowa Democratic Party
• 8/10/05 - $100 to Citizens for Rob Hogg (Democrat)
• 7/27/05 - $500 to Blouin for Governor (Democrat)
• 7/4/05 - $250 to Citizens for Gronstal (Democrat)
• 9/9/04 - $250 to Iowa Democratic Party
• 7/3/04 - $100 to Roeder for Des Moines School Board (Phil Roeder, Democrat, used to be Chet Culver's Deputy Chief of Staff)
• 7/3/03 - $100 to Boesen for School Board (Connie Boesen is a big Democrat)
  

Awwww, look at that. McCormick seems to only contribute money to Democrats.

I guess I missed that disclosure in the op-ed published in the Register.

Gee, doesn't that make him a little biased?

The guy donated money to Barack Obama's campaign - and only Democrats going back 7 years.

What do you think he's going to say? Somebody's got to defend these crooks at the Department of Justice. Might as well be another lawyer who is a Democrat.

Bye Bye Wayne Ford, Don't Forget Your Crack Pipe

According to the DMR, Wayne Ford isn't running for re-election to the Iowa Legislature.

Good riddance, Wayne Ford.

Could there have been a dumber, more anti-American, pro-criminal person in the Iowa Legislature than Wayne Ford?

Even the late Rob Borsellino, who was married to that liberal flake Rekha Basu, said that Wayne Ford was "pretty far to the Left."

Let's look back at Wayne Ford's legacy, because you know those political rimmers at the DMR and other dying corporate media outlets aren't going to mention it.

Back in 2005, Wayne Ford submitted a bill to the Iowa Legislature that, if it had become law, would have allowed a consular identification card (from Mexico) to act as a means of ID in the United States, but not to get a driver's license.

Then, a few days later, Ford submitted another bill which would give an Iowa driver's license to an illegal Mexican carrying a consular identification card.

Thankfully, none of bills ever got anywhere.

Later in 2005, Ford submitted a bill that would protect criminals in an overt way:

A bill for an act prohibiting a landlord under Iowa's residential landlord-tenant law from retaliating against a tenant for summoning or receiving police or emergency assistance in response to a family violence or domestic abuse situation.

Yes, that's right folks. Wayne Ford wanted to protect wife beaters, girlfriend beaters, people who physically abuse children, and those who enable such scum by not allowing the landlord to kick them out for creating disturbances to the community which would involve calling the police or an ambulance.

Sickening, isn't it?

You won't read about that in the Des Moines Register. No way.

How about another bill from 2005, HR 353:

This bill provides that all appointive boards, commissions, committees, and councils established by the Code shall provide for minority representation. The bill provides that no person shall be appointed to any board, commission, committee, or council if that appointment would cause the percentage of total members of all boards, commissions, committees, and councils to be less than the percentage of that particular minority of the population of the state based upon the last census. A minority person means an individual who is a Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian, or Alaskan native American.

Never mind that Iowa has at least two counties where nearly 99% of residents are white. How would that have been managed? It's like Wayne Ford would have been happier as a white man in the Jim Crow South.

I'm sure there are many more bills out there that are just as outrageous.

But how will the Des Moines Register write about Wayne Ford's exit? Oh, it'll be the usual boilerplate nonsense about him founding Urban Dreams, about how he was black and that there are few blacks in the Legislature, maybe covering up Ford's rampant anti-American behavior by saying he was for "social justice" or some such crap.

Big deal.

Wayne Ford was a waste of space in the Iowa Legislature. Get the hell outta there, you idiot! Bring on the next black Leftist tool from inner city Des Moines. Looks like it's some fat teacher with snooty-looking half glasses. She's bound to be an improvement. How could she be any worse than Wayne Ford? I better hold my breath.

Dick Doak Doesn't Get It

Dick Doak churns out another dumb op-ed in the Des Moines Register on Sunday.

It's hard to believe this guy was once an editor at the Register, and who now lectures at ISU and teaches at Simpson College.

Hey, Dick, could we deal in specifics rather than your cliches about what you think conservatives and liberals believe?

For starters, the deficit for the Federal Government in the month of February was a record. Almost $221 billion. Who signed off on that? Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats in the House, Harry Reid, the Democrats in the Senate and, ultimately, President Barack Obama.

But I know what liberal like Dick Doak would use as an excuse. It would be something like, "Well, you know, we're now paying for the last 8 years of George W. Bush" and they say that with a straight face even though it's complete bs.

Then there's the "health care reform" bill in Congress, something which a vast majority of Americans oppose. Democrats in Congress aren't listening to the American public, much less Republicans. They want to ram the bill through by any illegal means necessary. Pelosi says we'll find out what's in it after it's passed. Even past Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen are sounding warning bells that Democrats in Congress are going to get annihilated in the November elections if the bill isn't killed.

And don't get me started on the phony "cap and trade" bill or the likely "amnesty for illegals" program that Americans are against. Or the failed stimulus package. Or the money wasted by the government takeovers of GM and Chrysler. Or the billions wasted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Or how the Feds want to take over all college loans for students. And on and on and on.

Dick, could you go back and look at those YouTube clips of Barack Obama before he was elected President and how he's broken so many promises? Here's a few:

• Obama on earmarks
• Obama on a "net spending cut"
• Obama on having health care debate on CSPAN
• Obama on letting the public look at bills for 5 days before he signs them.
• Obama on not raising taxes on people earning below $250,000.
• Obama on how he wants to now tax certain health insurance policies.

All of this is what America is pissed off about, Dick.

Don't you get it?

And to nitpick Dick's dumb column, why does he assume that Republicans were "conservatives" in the last several years? Does any real conservative believe that Republican politicians like George W. Bush, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Denny Hastert, Trent Lott, or Bill Frist were economic conservatives, much less conservatives that actually believe in the Constitution? No way! They weren't! Bush didn't veto anything for the first 6 or 7 years of his presidency. John McCain and Lindsey Graham want another amnesty program for illegals. And all the others porked up the budget with stupidity like No Child Left Behind, Sarbanes-Oxley, "green jobs", and other earmark claptrap. Look at Chuck Grassley, he wanted Federal pork for that stupid rainforest. Grassley goes around acting like a fiscal conservative when it's convenient, but he's a total fraud.

Back to Dick's column.

Dick suggests that Iowa needs to spend money on education and infrastructure.

I won't complain about education. For the past decade we've seen Tom Vilsack, Chet Culver, and the Iowa Legislature gut education spending in favor of corporate welfare, forgivable loans, and tax credit scams to certain businesses and industries.

As for infrastructure, what is he talking about? Does he mean a slow Amtrak line from Chicago to Omaha? Does he mean 4-lane highways all over the state? Does he mean pumping millions more into the ICN, rural broadband, and other bottomless pits?

Dick also says that government needs to help out the average person.

You know what? The average person wants to be left alone. They don't want the government to help them. They want government to get out of their way. Get out of their face. Make life easier, not more difficult!

Dick, have you ever filled out a state income tax form on your own? No, I don't mean using software or your CPA, but sitting down with a pencil, a calculator, and the forms. The average person doesn't have an extra $200 to $250 to get their taxes done. We can't possibly remember all the tax credits and deductions and other baloney that lawmakers offer us every year. Why can't we fill the stupid form out in 3 minutes and send it in?

That would be a start.

Dick, can we find some common ground?

Can we at least agree the income tax in Iowa is a disaster and needs to be scrapped in favor of an easy-to-use flat-tax? Agree with me that Iowa's income taxes are annoying and incredibly complex, and then we can all use our bully pulpits to hammer on that. Maybe someday the Legislature will listen, and then we can move on to other things we agree on.

That would be nice, although I don't think Dick Doak is interested in finding any real common ground issues. He wants to play the same old cards in the Leftist deck, over and over and over again.

Iowa DHS Isn't Verifying Welfare Eligibility

According to the Des Moines Register, the state auditor's office says that the Iowa Department of Human Services isn't verifying income eligibility for the Family Investment Program and Child Medical Assistance Program, and the spokesman for DHS admits that verification doesn't really happen.

You know what? If you can't verify eligibility for welfare programs using our tax dollars then you don't need to hire more State employees. That's a crass answer.

Herein lies the need for taxpayer advocates to step up and create scenarios where Iowa DHS can be exposed in allowing outright fraud of the system. The news media used to do stuff like this decades ago, but no more since all the corporate media in Iowa is mostly run by liberals, as is DHS. A rag like the Register is only going to report what the Auditor's office says, not actively root it out.

But how difficult would it be for a taxpayer advocacy group to hire a person or a family and set up a situation where DHS weaknesses could be exposed? I think it would be very easy, and it could be done relatively inexpensively. Everything could be filmed using pen-sized cameras and microphones like those young people did in exposing all the ACORN fraud last year.

You Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, and fiscally conservative Democrats ought to get better organized and take this on. You've got all spring, summer, and fall to plan a variety of ways to destroy Chet Culver, destroy Iowa DHS, destroy the liberal Democrats working at these agencies, expose the system for the fraud it contains, and make the media look bad before elections in November.

Iowa Department Of Economic Dismemberment Wastes Another $10 Million

Looks like the Iowa Department Of Economic Dismemberment is up to it's old tricks again, wasting over $10 million on "misspent" business flood recovery in Cedar Rapids.

When is the IDED going to be permanently defunded? Do Republicans have the will to do such a thing if ever they elected as a majority in the Iowa Legislature again?

I don't get why the Iowa media is always the last to hear about these scandals. It's not like they couldn't have taken some J-school students or other activists, dressed them up as a pimp and a ho, and with tiny video cameras recorded what IDED officials or others would have said while they were trying to improperly seek flood recovery money.

Seriously, how easy would it be to get some actors, activists, or muckraking reporter types to go into various state and local agencies and pose as obvious phonies, frauds, or as part of criminal front groups? The past few years all you would have had to do was say you're a Democrat, make some political contributions to the right people, say you represent some giant corporation that wants to move their business to Iowa, and then see how stupid the government officials behave. Wouldn't that have been entertaining theater? Shoot, you could probably start work on such a scam tomorrow and nobody would really notice. There's a whole bunch of idiots in the Iowa Legislature just waiting to fall for these things.

What's the worst thing that could happen? Government flunkies would be embarrassed and fired. Isn't that a good thing? Perhaps. Although I'm sure if you set foot in the wrong county the local prosecutors might try to nail you on a fraud charge, even if your intent was never to defraud the government but rather to expose how easy it is to steal money from it.

Instead, the Iowa media is too lazy, corporate, and butt-kissy to ever try such a thing. They'd rather rewrite press releases offered up by the government once all the exposing has been done.

The Bentley Family Of Sexual Abusers Send Another One To Prison

Oh look, another scumbag in that Bentley family of childhood sexual abusers and murderers has been convicted of 3rd degree sexual abuse of a 4 year old girl. This time it's Daryl Bentley, the nephew of murderer Roger Bentley, who killed 10 year old Jetseta Gage, and James Bentley, who had sexually abused her.

What the hell is going on in that family?

And what is with all these women involved with the Bentley guys? They're sickos! James Bentley's wife found pornographic pictures of then-9 year old Gage in her husband's coat. She did nothing! Trena Gage, Jetseta's mother, "dated" Roger Bentley for a couple of years, and even after she knew his brother was abusing her daughter!

In the case of Daryl Bentley, somebody left their kid with his "girlfriend", who just happened to be gone for long enough for the scumbag to abuse the girl.

Why aren't all these women charged with something? These wives and girlfriends. They make me want to vomit! They had to know their men were sickos and criminal perverts! Yuck. They're all disgusting. Lock them all up and throw away the key, or bring back Old Sparky.

The Legacy Of Shatani Dimitrius Buck

There was a story in today's Iowa City Press-Citizen that is worth noting because of what the newspaper doesn't tell you.

It's about the first juvenile caught under the newly-created curfew ordinance in Iowa City.

Gannett "doesn't identify juveniles charged with offenses less than a felony", which is a wimpy cop-out if you ask me. Not only should they be identified, but juveniles getting busted should be broadcast far and wide.

But this blog will identify the criminal because it's public information.

Shatani Dimitrius Buck Jr, a 16 year old (b 3/27/93), residing at 1205 Laura Dr Lot 144 in Iowa City, was observed in a bar in Iowa City after midnight when an officer paid a visit on an unrelated incident. Shatani was charged with 1) Presence on premise (licensed liquor establishment) after hours. 2) Tobacco - Underage use of tobacco products. 3) Curfew Violation. It's all on the Iowa City Police Department web site which I won't link to because the data updates.

One look over at the Iowa Courts Online Search discovers that Shat Junior hasn't fallen far from the lousy tree of his old man, Shatani Dimitrius Buck (b 11/21/72). Shat Senior has managed to rack up 6 felony convictions in the past 15 years in the Iowa courts. Shat Senior is currently on work release from Linn County on two felonies. What a shathead.

Shat Junior started his criminal life off by being charged with assault in 2o06 (06521 JVJV004655). He's been to Clarinda and Four Oaks, but was eventually released back into society so that he could be charged with Sexual Abuse 3rd Degree (06521 FECR086827) but it was dismissed and transferred to juvenile court where, clearly, nothing was done. He's not on the Iowa Sex Offender web site. Lately he's been driving around in a car without a valid license (06521 STA0057204) and also getting into bars late at night. I'm sure we'll see this shathead in court in the future too.

It's worth noting just for the Google placement when they get caught in the future for additional crimes, mostly because those stupid, lazy-ass Gannett employees don't know how to work Iowa's wonderful and open government databases and can only shoot their dying industry in the foot when it comes to talking about Google.

State 29 The Magnificent

Today in the DMR is some "blog post" (for those of you who don't know what blogs are read "Perhaps you have not heard of blogs" by the DMR's Ken Fuson from 2005) by Jason Clayworth which is really nothing more than Gannett giving the marching orders to their "reporters" that they need to find some sort of positive spin about the current economic situation in order to help their friends the Democrats. Well, I suppose it's not about the economic situation, but how much dough is going into government coffers. That's all they really care about.

The point Clayworth makes is that while State government receipts are down 11% since 2008, this fiscal year might show a fraction of a percent increase over last year's. I'm sure most politicians look at any tiny real increase in revenue and think, "How the hell can I mortgage that chunk of money so that the next generation is paying for it in order for me to give it away to my fatcat donors?" You know that's what they're thinking.

Just four years ago, then-Governor Tom Vilsack proposed a budget which increased State government spending by 6.1%. State 29 said then:

A 6.1% increase seems awfully high. You can't sustain that sort of growth in government without massive tax increases upon the working population or stealing from every "rainy day" fund around, something Vilsack has already done.

What happens when the economy goes sour? The politicians will want to continue that sort of spending rate or be faced with accusations that they're starving children when everybody but the State employees are out of work.

How amazing is that? Was this blog onto something in 2006, or what?

Tom Harkin Helps Launder Your Tax Money For Democrat Donations

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.

I've been reading up on the latest Tom Harkin-affiliated scandal via the Tax Update Blog and the Des Moines Register and trying to make heads or tails out of it.

I'll come right out and say this: from the DMR story it looks like Harkin is facilitating the laundering of taxpayer money through companies that donate to Democrat candidates. All under the guise of "it's for the children". We'll see how this plays out, but I guarantee you that Harkin will totally escape any legal trouble.

Since Harkin has been involved in so many scandals, wastes of tax money, and odd statements over the years, it's probably a good idea to recap some of the recent ones here:

• Harkin spent years pumping Federal money into CIETC, a supposed jobs training program in Des Moines run by a GED recipient (Ramona Cunningham) who paid herself $368,000 a year and who gave over $1.5 million in "bonuses" to other execs. Ramona got an 84 month prison sentence and last month lost an appeal in the Eighth Circuit to have the sentence reduced.

• Harkin wasted over $10 million in Federal money on electric buses for Cedar Rapids in the late 1990s. The 9 buses purchased had a combined mileage of only 200,000 when they were sold as scrap for a total of $30,000 in 2008. No bus had more than 25,000 miles on the odometer.

• Harkin accepted and apparently kept campaign contributions from a company that had to pay a $4 million fine for engaging in Medicare fraud in 2008.
  
  
• Harkin secured a $41 million earmark for the Department of Labor to "eliminate child labor overseas" a couple years ago. Does anybody know where that money went?
  
  
• Harkin was quoted in 2006 as saying "I happen to be a supporter of earmarks, unabashedly" after securing hundreds of millions of dollars for breast cancer research through the Department of Defense.
  
  
• Harkin was in favor of giving $3 billion in loan guarantees to various selected private companies in order to build an ethanol pipeline to the East Coast. I'm not aware that this went forward, but it's just the idea in general that disgusts me.
  
  
• Harkin blamed NAFTA for the closure of the Maytag plant in Newton in 2007 after the purchase of the company by Whirlpool (and after overpaid Maytag CEO Ralph Hake ran the company into the ground), which is ironic since Harkin voted for NAFTA.
  
  
• Harkin voted in 2007 to continue funding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, even though he voted for the wars but spent most of the Bush presidency denouncing them. Maybe Harkin has some earmarks in that bill?
  
  
• One of the featured guests at Harkin's September 2007 Steak Fry was John Edwards. Let's see, in September 2007 Rielle Hunter would have been completing her third month of morning sickness thanks to John Edwards' super sperm.
  
  
• Speaking of Kum & Go, in 2006 Harkin secured a $1.5 million grant to install 24 E-85 pumps at various Kum & Go stations in Iowa (that's $62,500 per pump). I wonder how much E-85 has been pumped out of them, or if they're even functional these days?
  
  
• Harkin said in 2007 that his pro-war vote in 2002 wasn't a "green light to invade Iraq" even though the bill he voted on explicitly said that.
  
  
• Then you have all those years of Harkin complaining about the "windfall profits" of oil companies all while his wife has either been a director at ConocoPhillips or back when she was funneling half a billion to Enron through OPIC in the 1990s.

There's many more, I'm sure. It's practically a full time job to keep track of Tom Harkin's path of destruction over the years.

Then, For An Encore, We Burned Our Training Bras

The big story of the day is that old hippie woman at Merrill Middle School in Des Moines leading her class on a short protest along Grand Ave this morning against proposed school budget cuts (along with members of the local media, who naturally had advanced warning.)

You know, if she wants to go out there and make a fool of herself by trying to indoctrinate children with some sort of "moral outrage" nonsense by holding up a sign, then why not? It's not going to change anything. It doesn't change reality.

What's the district going to do?

Raise property taxes 15% like they want to do in Iowa City? Oh, I'm sure that would be a big hit with the voters in November.

Hike the sales tax another penny? Eric "The Liar" Witherspoon, the then-stupidertendent who got the local now-not-optional sales tax enacted over 10 years ago after multiple tries (and by a victory margin of something like 43 votes - don't tell me there wasn't voter fraud going on then, Michael Mauro) said that schools wouldn't be closed, but once the school district in Des Moines got their money they closed schools. That barn door is closed, my friends. You'll never get voters in Polk County to agree to another sales tax hike ever again.

Get more money from the State? Fat chance with the Chet Culver Diet happening (it's the one where you cut off your arm and feed it to profitable companies like Google, Microsoft, and Whirlpool).

Get more stimulus money from the Feds? This past year Obama and the Democrats in Congress have blown open a $1.7 trillion deficit, more than all the Bush deficits combined! What's a few more trillion? Start up some more printers, Barry! We got jobs to save or create or whatever. Train these kids at Merrill how to print dollar bills.

So, you see, it's all grist for the media and the comment sections of the dying local newspaper. The old hippie teacher might get a slap on the wrist from the principal or the Board, but she'll be retired in 3 months, and anyway nothing will happen because lord knows they would all love it if somehow they could find a way to squeeze more blood our of that tax turnip called Des Moines taxpayers. But why not try to go out in a blaze of glory? It's for the children.......

Tom Harkin Knows He'd Get His Ass Kicked In November If He Were Up For Re-Election

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.

The Des Moines Register had a short piece in their "Political Rimmer Insider" column about how Tom Harkin knows if his re-election had been in November 2010 instead of November 2008 he'd lose.

Not a big surprise, but of course I had to click through the comments since they were so numerous.

You know what I get a big kick out of? When somebody quotes a State 29 web page and includes the URL. In the comments "ConservativeKen" linked to and quoted from the Why Is Tom Harkin So Rich? page that was made in 2008.

Thanks, ConservativeKen. You made my day.

And I'm sure the idiots working at the DMR totally hate seeing "State 29" mentioned anywhere, so you got a two-fer, Ken.

Iowa Senate Republicans Have Suggestions On Health Care Reform

I received an email from the Iowa Senate Republicans yesterday that I thought was worth reprinting most of it in this forum and commenting on it. This is by Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley. Here it goes:

This week, there was a big missed opportunity in the realm of health care. It is abundantly clear from the debate that has raged on in Washington and throughout the country during the last year that Iowans are not interested in an expensive government takeover of health care. Instead, they want market-based reforms that will lead to more accessible, affordable and portable health care.

For the past three years, legislative Democrats, much like those in Congress, have pushed health care bills that only lead to more government control of health care with nothing to curb costs. As a result, many Iowans are continuing to receive notices of expensive rate increases at a time when they can least afford it. In fact, this week Senate Republicans provided the key votes to stop an expensive government expansion of health care that, in the first two years alone, would have cost Iowa taxpayers over $200 million dollars and only spiraled further out-of-control after that.

Iowa Republicans have been working hard to offer better alternatives that will not lead to a government takeover of health care. For months, we have been talking about our solutions that would lead to more accessible, affordable and portable health care in Iowa. Unfortunately, legislative Democrats have killed every one of our smart solutions this session.

Here’s a brief synopsis of several of our proposals to make health care more accessible, affordable and portable in Iowa:


* Low-cost catastrophic health plans for those under 30. Iowans age 18-30 are known as the “invincibles” as they often believe, given their relative youth and good health, health insurance is a product they do not need. In fact, there are 106,000 Iowans in this age group who do not have health insurance and account for roughly halfof all the uninsured in the entire state. We propose legislation that will encourage the development of low cost catastrophic insurance products that will provide base care for younger Iowans.



* The Patients Right to Know Act. As with any product or service, the more information consumers can access to compare the costs and quality of that product or service, the lower the cost and the higher the quality of the products and services they consume. We propose legislation to establish a statewide information hub that brings together both cost and quality data in a searchable format for online consumers. Cost and quality transparency will empower consumers to make better health care decisions in a way that maximizes quality while minimizing cost.



* Prevention credits: putting a premium on wellness. Prevention programs that encourage a long-term commitment to wellness practices are proven to reduce demand for expensive health services and contain future growth in health care spending. Prevention credits will allow an average Iowa family to save upwards of 15 percent on their health insurance premium or $1,635 on an average family policy. We propose legislation to require insurers to offer prevention credits to individuals and employers that can be used to reduce health insurance rates for those individuals and employers that demonstrate a commitment to wellness and prevention.



* Tort and lawsuit abuse reform. No serious attempt at reducing rising health care and insurance costs can move forward without an honest attempt to address the issue of medical malpractice and tort reform. Iowa Senate Republicans have continually championed the need to pass legislation that raises the burden of proof on medical malpractice claims and places reasonable limits on payment for damages. Opponents to tort reform often state that this is not a problem in Iowa because damage rewards are amongst the lowest in the nation. What they fail to mention is that because of the fear of lawsuits, physicians often practice "defensive" medicine. They order expensive tests and routines raising health costs by millions of dollars. I spoke with an individual last week that out of $3500 in medical costs quoted to him, $3200 was for tests and procedures deemed as "defensive". This is a real concern.



* Expand health insurance tax deductibility to individuals and small business. Current law allows large employers the opportunity to deduct health care costs and therefore provide a tremendous incentive to provide health insurance to their employees. With a significant portion of our population now working for small businesses or for themselves, Iowa Senate Republicans believe such deductions for health insurance costs should be extended to all businesses and individuals. What is good for Wall Street should be good for Main Street, too.



* No pre-existing exclusions when changing plans with the same insurance provider. Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of those seeking continuation of health care coverage than the words “pre-existing conditions”. We have proposed legislation that prohibits the denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions when an insured Iowan moves from one plan to another plan offered by the same insurance company.



* No unfunded federal mandate and choice of health care. With the state already struggling to pay its’ bills, any additional unfunded mandate handed down by the federal government on health care would break the bank. We also do not believe it is important or right to force individuals to purchase something they may not want.



* Purchasing Across State Lines. Senate Republicans believe Iowans should be allowed to purchase health insurance across state lines. Federal law currently precludes this action from happening.

These are some good, reasonable ideas.

The only real beef I have with this bunch is the first bullet point about the state government creating low-cost catastrophic plans for people under the age of 30. There are many places on the internet, such as ehealthinsurance, which provides quotes for a basic catastrophic health insurance policy. While some policies are bare bones and provide little coverage until a high deductible kicks in, many of these cost as little as $33 a month. In contrast, how much is junior's cell phone bill? How often do the kids go out to eat or go to the bars? The point is that there are already a huge number of high deductible, low cost catastrophic policies available and government doesn't need to get into the insurance business any further.

I don't understand the Patient's Right To Know Act since it isn't explained fully in the email. What people ought to know is how much things cost. How much is the doctor's visit? How much is this test? How much is that procedure? You really ought to know. Not only that, but the health care professionals ought to know! Don't tell me the "co-pay" or quote Medicare or insurance company rates. Give me the cash option! If I pay for this "out of pocket" why are you charging me as much as the family with the expensive, employer-subsidized, low-deductible health insurance plan? If you go to the car repair shop they'll tell you how much a battery or an oil change or new brakes cost. Why can't a doctor or nurse tell you how much health care procedures cost? Put a damn sign up for all major maladies.

On the issue of tort reform, I would love to know how much malpractice insurance costs for health care professionals. How come this isn't public knowledge? How much does the brain surgeon pay? The general practice doctor? The obstetrician? The pharmacist? People should be speaking up and providing this information to the public, then there might be more sympathy towards tort reform.

Purchasing across state lines really isn't anything that Chet Culver of the Democrats in the Iowa Legislature can solve since it's a Federal issue. But since Iowa has so many insurance companies based here, couldn't this be a potential boom to these businesses?

Once the Democrats get obliterated in the November 2010 and more in the 2012 elections, maybe Republicans will be able to get a few of these worthwhile ideas on the table.

Rapist-Enabling Wannabe-Senator Roxanne Conlin Is Fighting To Fix Something

The Sioux City Journal's Bret Hayworth has rapist-enabler, money-grubbing lawyer, and Democrat primary candidate for the US Senate Roxanne Conlin's speaking schedule (the "Fight To Fix It" tour) for the weekend.

Considering that Conlin could only get 10 people to show up in Algona last week, I'd be surprised if she pulls more than single digits in such places as Sheldon, Ida Grove, and Denison.

Does any reporter want to ask Conlin about her support in 2007 of scumbag philanderer John Edwards? What's Conlin's opinion of a dog who would intentionally screw around on his cancer-stricken wife, make a sex tape, and try to get a campaign worker to take the fall for the baby that he sired?

Why Local Financial Control Over Schools Is Important

The Des Moines Register has a story on Friday about how the school district wants to cut 350 teaching positions and $33 million from the budget. Such cuts include nixing band or string orchestras at the elementary level, major chopping of art, music, and PE, only driver's ed during the summer, and on and on and on.

Why? Everybody's blaming it on Gov Chet Culver's 10% across-the-board cut in state government expenses. Oh, but Iowa has money for corporate welfare for profitable companies. No, really, that was the intent of the local non-optional sales tax, don't ya know?

But, but, but, but the Des Moines Register said in 2007 it was for the children! Waaaaa!

Meanwhile, in Iowa City, the school district there is hoping to raise property taxes by 15%. If anything will turn those liberals into TEA party members, that might.

Didn't the ICCSD get a 1% local non-optional sales tax passed there in 2007? How come there isn't any money? Who knows? According to the newspaper it's because of Culver's budget circumcision coupled with the eventual ending of Federal stimulus money.

Here we go again: live by the Federal stimulus, die by the Federal stimulus. Live by the State's whims and screwed up priorities, die by the State's whims and screwed up priorities.

It's so easy to get hooked on State and Federal and local non-optional sales tax money, isn't it? You start to budget all sorts of crazy things and you think the credit card is never going to run out. Gee, Congress can keep raising the debt ceiling forever and $1.7 trillion deficits are OK as far as the eye can see. Anyway, we can get more money out of the rich. Besides, it's all Bush's fault.

But one day the money does run out.

Before long that class of 20 kids turns into 30. Or 35. Or maybe 40. Forget band and art and PE and driver's ed and counselors and anything else, except maybe the golden parachute for our fantabulous stupidertendents. We've got to teach the tests for No Child Left Behind and even though we graduate tons of brilliant students we all happen to be in a DINA (District In Need of Assistance) which ought to qualify us for more Federal moolah.

It's a vicious cycle, people.

Hey, isn't this the same government that says they can provide quality health insurance and health care really cheap to tens of millions of people who don't currently have health insurance? It's interesting how the schools keep cutting services and rationing teachers and raising taxes. Ya think the same thing would happen with government-forced health care? Ya think?

Two Year Old Biodiesel Plant In Keokuk Sold For $55,000

The Des Moines Register had a column today written by some guy who still has an AOL email address. Remember those? Wow! Who still has an AOL.com email address in 2010, other than your neighbor's dead grandmother?

Sorry, I digress.

So the DMR had a column today written by some guy (Al Moander) who was an investor with the Tri-City Energy Bio-Diesel plant in Keokuk. He was talking about how the plant was sold recently at auction for $55,000 and that Nevada Senator Harry Reid basically screwed the industry by not extending some Federal tax credit for bio-diesel.

How's that Hope And Change working out for you, Green Jobbers?

Wow, $55,000? I wonder how much it cost to build.

From a December 21, 2007 story in the Keokuk Daily Gate:

Keokuk will have two new renewable fuel-related industries in town, both of them the product of local entrepreneurs investing in their community.

One of the industries, which will build a plant to make ethanol out of a wheat starch by-product, was included in a round of grants and tax incentives approved Thursday by the Economic Development Board and Iowa Department of Economic Development.

Keokuk Ethanol Company was awarded $200,000 from the Value-Added Agricultural Products and Processes Financial Assistance Program and Enterprise Zone tax benefits. The $7 million project is expected to create 20 jobs paying an average wage of $21 per hour.

Keokuk Ethanol Company is a division of TC Energy LLC of Keokuk. John Rothgeb and Gerald Moughler, both Keokuk residents, are the principal shareholders.

Gov. Chet Culver said the state is investing in Iowa's future.

“My goal is to take full advantage of Iowa's natural resources, along with our incredible manufacturing base and workforce, to make Iowa the renewable energy capital of the nation,” he said.

IDED Director Mike Tramontina said the state is “continuing to aggressively recruit high-quality companies and careers to Iowa and strengthen our leadership position in renewable energy.”

Wait a second. Did I read that correctly? December 21, 2007? That's barely 2 years ago!

From what I can tell by reading other news stories, the ethanol plant never got built. Only the bio-diesel plant was operational, and not for long. It was sold recently at auction to Swiss company BFSG, which must stand for something like "Big F@%$ing S#*%-eating Grin".

Why was it sold? Something about a nearly $2 million judgment against Tri-City Energy. This from the December 8, 2009 Keokuk Daily Gate:

A local business has a 30-day reprieve from the auction block, a delay that could allow its owners to wrap up a pending deal with the buyer of their choice.

Tri-City Energy, LLC, Keokuk, a soybean oil-based biodiesel plant, had been facing a Dec. 16 sheriff’s auction. However, the sale of the 219 S. Fifth St. plant, equipment and lab has been moved back to Jan. 20, 2010...

...The $1,976,513 court judgment against Tri-City Energy could have been satisfied by its sale to BFSG International of Zurich, Switzerland. But the transaction, which was supposed to be finalized on Nov. 6, fell through.

Why did the bio-diesel market go haywire so quickly?

Well, it was either because of the yanking of the tax credit due to Harry Reid, like AOLer Al Moander had mentioned in the DMR guest opinion piece.

Or perhaps it was because of what AOLer Al Moander told the Keokuk Daily Gate on October 30, 2009:

...not long after the plant began production, the soybean market “inverted itself,” Moander said. Soybean prices sky rocketed and the once sky-high price of petroleum-based fuels plummeted, dragging on the young company’s finances.

Or perhaps it was because of what the Keokuk Daily Gate said on December 8, 2009:

A recession that had been brewing in the nation’s financial sector hit and further compromised Tri-City Energy’s bottom line, along with many other industries and businesses worldwide.

Gee, let's blame it on the nation's financial sector..... or the soybean market..... or the oil industry..... let's blame it on ANYTHING except what was really going on: a bunch of guys in small town Iowa who tried to exploit a Federal tax credit put there by politicians obsessed with "green jobs" and other nonsense.

You live by the tax credit. You die by the tax credit.

You think you can get rich by exploiting stupidity created by government? No way! What kind of playa do you think you are? You're just a sucker!

Hey, Chet Culver, you fat-assed loser, where's that $200,000 now?

Hey, Iowa Department Of Economic Development Corporate Welfare, who got to take credit for the fake 20 "green jobs" that were never created?

Oh, look who was involved with Tri-City Energy early on. It's none other than former Iowa Senate leader Lowell Junkins, who is now spending his waning days as a Vilsack apppointee as Chairman Of The Board and Director of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac). What could possibly go wrong there with Lowell Junkins in charge? Stay tuned.