Trusty Democrat Operative David Wiggins To Find Branstad Some More Liberal Justices

According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins is going to be the chairman of the 15 member "non-partisan" commission (The Register's words, not mine) which will search for three new potential justices for the court.

Grant Schulte, the "reporter" for the Register who wrote the story, takes 12 paragraphs to mention this enormous conflict of interest:

Wiggins, a registered Democrat, was active in party politics before he took the bench. He donated at least $6,800 to Vilsack's first campaign for governor in 1998, and has given thousands of dollars to the party and its candidates. In 2002, he was an investigator and attorney for U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin in a high-profile incident in which a junior staffer conspired with a former Harkin aide to record a meeting of Harkin's opponent, Greg Ganske.

Wait a second! The commission is supposed to be "non-partisan", so how come some trusty Democrat operative is leading the charge?

That's because "reporter" Grant Schulte is propagandist.  He's a shill for the Hard Left.

Look at Schulte's story back in November on this issue.  19 paragraphs into the story he truthfully mentions that the board doesn't have to be balanced with Democrats and Republicans, but then fails to point out that the current commission contains 86% Democrats.

Schulte, you're an ass.  You're a fraud.  You're a disgrace.  12 paragraphs down in today's story to point out the conflict of interest while fraudulently saying the commission is non-partisan?

At least it wasn't Brent Appel, who also bought his Supreme Court seat from the Democrats and Vilsack, and whose now-fat wife Staci lost in a landslide in the recent State Senate election after spending this state into the poor house.

You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

From the Sioux City Journal in 1910:

PRINCESS RINK TO REOPEN: Councilman Jonathan W. Brown would bar all women from the roller skating rinks. Mr. Brown signified his belief yesterday morning that “females” should be kept out of the halls after 6 o'clock p.m. when the request for renewal of the rinks came up to the council. Councilman Brown was opposed to the renewal of the license. He said skating rinks, as they were run in Sioux City, are a disgrace.

Look at Iowa in 2010. We've got the Mid Iowa Roller Derby, the Des Moines Derby Dames, and the Cedar Rapids Roller Girls.  Poor old Councilman Jonathan W. Brown would be having a heart attack if he were alive today.

Bob Vander Plaats Continues To Drive Everybody Insane

I don't really care for Bob Vander Plaats, but as a lightning rod for the far right he's really adorable in the way that he makes liberals go absolutely crazy by merely opening his mouth.  Look at the tolerance of the Left when it comes to dealing with BVP.  They don't want to ignore this one trick pony.  Instead, they express over-the-top outrage at somebody who used the system to legally get something done, as opposed to the Iowa Supreme Court who, let's admit it, made up new law because Kevin McCarthy and Mike Gronstal were too chickenshit to admit that a lot of Democrats in the Iowa Legislature didn't want homosexuals to get married.  I'm fine with letting homosexuals get married, just as long as the local TV news stations quit showing all those morbidly obese butch dykes kissing.  That shit is frightening.

Today the Cedar Rapids Gazette whips up the left in the comments with a story perfectly headlined Vander Plaats Calls On Remaining Judges To Resign:

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats last week called on the four remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices to use next month’s annual message to lawmakers to announce their plans to resign.

Vander Plaats urged the four justices to “do the right thing” by stepping down rather than face impeachment by state lawmakers.

“We’re giving this court an opportunity to lead,” Vander Plaats said during the taping of an Iowa Public Television “Iowa Press” show slated to air Dec. 31.

Vander Plaats is just pushing buttons here while mentioning the "I" word, impeachment.  Look at the comments in that Gazette story!  BVP succeeds in driving them crazy.  But the left is getting angry over nothing.

Even if the Republicans wasted their time drafting articles of impeachment, they would have to prove this from Article III, Section 20 of the Iowa Constitution:

Officers subject to impeachment--judgment. SEC. 20. The governor, judges of the supreme and district courts, and other state officers, shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor or malfeasance in office; but judgment in such cases shall extend only to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit, under this state; but the party convicted or acquitted shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to law. All other civil officers shall be tried for misdemeanors and malfeasance in office, in such manner as the general assembly may provide.

I can't say whether the rest of the justices were involved in any misdemeanor or malfeasance while in office. Maybe they made up law and came down with a ruling that didn't please BVP and his crew, but does that constitute a misdemeanor or malfeasance?

And anyway, good luck climbing the hurdles imposed by Article III, Section 19:

Impeachment. SEC. 19. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment, and all impeachments shall be tried by the senate. When sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be upon oath or affirmation; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.

The Iowa House will have 60 Republicans and 40 Democrats in January. Good luck getting all 60 Republicans on board, much less finding 50 who want to waste their time with this crap. Even if the House passes impeachment, you still need 34 votes in the Iowa Senate to convict. Republicans only have 24 in the Senate and there's no way any Democrats are going to break ranks. No way.

BVP can talk all he wants, but impeachment is not going to happen.  He would be better off mobilizing and educating his supporters about why every judge should be voted out when up for retention and fixing the Iowa Judicial Nominating Commission so that it's partisan-neutral and doesn't contain 86% Democrats like today.  Instead you'll get BVP yammering about pointless impeachment and Republican cavemen like Nathan Tucker going on about sodomy licenses.

Don't you want to fix the system, BVP?  Isn't the issue bigger than just gay marriage?  It is!  Gay marriage is not going away, but you can make more of these pro-criminal judges go away if you just grew a frontal lobe.

The University Of Iowa Has So Much Money They Are Inventing Ways To Spend It All

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

A University of Iowa official said the university still must find money to make a new three-year plan for curbing alcohol abuse that might help UI shed its party school reputation a reality.

The Alcohol Harm Reduction Plan, which was announced earlier this month, has only four goals, including reducing binge drinking. But completing the goals and the 39-point subsection of initiatives will come at some cost, and UI officials are working to figure out what the price tag is and how to pay for it.

"We haven't identified all of the funding for this yet," said Tom Rocklin, UI vice president for student services.

But, he added, if the plan can't be fully funded, it will be scaled to its budget while maintaining the focus on education, providing alcohol alternatives and enforcing rules.

Rocklin said it likely would be two to three months before the university analyzes the full scope of the costs.

For now, Rocklin said the priority is creating and filling a new senior-level position to lead the effort, and the university is working on a job description.

You've got to admire the hubris of a douchebag like Tom Rocklin, who clearly expects to get several hundred thousand dollars from the taxpayers for this entirely unnecessary position and futile educational efforts.

My favorite comment about the story is from GMWinchester:

Dear Governor Branstad,

It appears the University of Iowa has so much money, they are inventing ways to spend it all. Please cut their budget next year. Thank You.

Union Thugs From Keokuk Go Caroling

From WGEM:

It's Christmas caroling with a message.

Wednesday night, locked out workers from Roquette America in Keokuk staged a very unique protest.

They took a break from the picket lines to go caroling outside the homes of top Roquette executives who live in Quincy.

The union workers have been off the job for almost three months now.

Roquette locked them out on September 28th, and contract negotiations have pretty much stalled ever since.

Wednesday's event hoped to grab the attention of company leaders. The singers carried signs that read "bah humbug" and "Seasons Greed-ings". They sang "Let Us Work" to the tune of "Jingle Bells" and "God Rest Ye Locked Out Laborers"

It went like this, "God bless ye very wealthy men,we're here so you can see. The workers who helped make you rich are now out on the street. You locked the doors while profits soared, how greedy could you be? Oh tidings of capital gains, oh what a shame, all you care about it capital gains."

Vice-President of Local 48G in Keokuk, Tommy Buckert, says the reason for the caroling was "just to let the company know we're still alive and well and we're not satisfied with the treatment we're getting."

There was a little more than that, according to Dana Loesch at BigJournalism:

A caravan of 80 people to sing insults and, according to eyewitnesses, shouting “FUCK YOU” at various houses right before Christmas? This isn’t “caroling,” this is intimidation. On private property.

The only article about this in the Keokuk Daily Gate appeared before the "caroling" occurred. No mention of the trespassing or shouts of FUCK YOU.

No wonder, a look at articles in recent months in the Daily Gate about the Roquette lockout all seem to be written from the union's perspective.

Here's a story from the Burlington Hawk Eye in September that indicates the sticking point for the union concerning the 240 locked out employees they represent:

Wages and benefits were two of the largest sticking points for the union. The company proposed a four-year wage freeze. The only additional compensation would come in the form of lump-sum cash payouts, seniority bonuses and an annual team performance bonus.

The company regarded the options as a 5 percent increase in compensation, but Golan disagreed: None of those bonuses were guaranteed.

Roquette also sought to bring its health insurance benefits closer to the industry's standard. The new contract would require employees to substantially increase their contributions to health care plans.

Another union concern was a pension freeze and replacing it with a 401(k) contribution. Golan said workers hired in the last 15 years have 401(k)s, as only older workers started with a pension fund.

Cry me a river. Many big private employers have been doing this sort of thing for years now:  no raises, cash bonuses every now and then, increased medical contributions by employees, and having a 401K instead of a pension.  It sucks, but thanks to government meddling this is what we've got to deal with.  Roquette's requests are not unreasonable, especially considering how much money the union pumped into getting Obamacare passed.

Tom Harkin, Cumming

The Des Moines Register printed a letter by Senator Tom "The Crook" Harkin on Wednesday, something about how if the Obamacare mandate isn't allowed then premiums will skyrocket, or some bullshit lie.  I don't really care because as far as I'm concerned Tom Harkin needs to be kicked out of the Senate and thrown in a "Fuck Me In The Ass Federal Prison" for wasting billions and being involved in practically every central Iowa scandal.

The funniest thing was how he signed the letter: 

Sen. Tom Harkin, Cumming

I can't envision Harkin sitting in the above shotgun shack in Cumming pounding out his reply on a Smith-Corona while wearing a sweater and throwing another log on the fire.  Maybe he did, but if you had the choice between Cumming for the holidays and sitting nude in the hot tub in the Bahamas at the oasis bought with your wife's oil money, which would you do?

Mentally Ill Leftists Think Steve King Is Vulnerable After Iowa Reapportionment

Todd Dorman offers a roundup of opinion on the news that Iowa is going to lose a House seat following the 2010 Census.

The funniest comment had to be from leftist bootlicker Nate Silver at 538/NY Slimes who airs some sort of insane fantasy about Steve King being vulnerable.  The same sort of stupidity appears in the comments of the Gazette's story about the issue. 

You've got to be mentally ill to think Steve King is vulnerable.

In 2008, the year Obama won, Steve King not only got 60% of the vote in his district, but he won all 32 counties in his district.  In 2010, he got 66% of the vote.

Nate Silver, you're such a mathematical genius.  Can you spot a trend here?

John Deeth's comments are technically correct about how reapportionment works in Iowa, but he doesn't really take into account the change in the political climate.  Bruce Braley won by only 4000 votes in 2010 against nobody Ben Lange.  A margin that was less than 2%.  This is the same sweaty, creepy-looking Bruce Braley who beat David Hartsuch by 79,000 votes in 2008. 

For the mathematically challenged, like that dumbass Nate Silver, Braley had 64% to Hartsuch's 35% in 2008.

Spot a trend, Nate?

Attorney General Tom "The Crook" Miller Goes After Mortgage Fraud

Mike G-Lover of the Associated Press has a story in Business Week about how some mortgage fraud group is being formed in Iowa:

A new task force to combat mortgage fraud that combines state and federal forces to impose civil and criminal charges adds teeth to the fight against a problem at the heart of the nation's economic system, prosecutors said Monday.

"Mortgage fraud is a very serious crime," said Weysan Dun, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI. "It is an attack on the economic system of the United States."

At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt and state Attorney General Tom Miller announced the creation of a working group combining state and federal enforcement efforts.

"We will look at everyone involved in these fraudulent practices," Klinefeldt said. "This will put Iowa on the forefront."

Miller said much of the focus to date has been on civil enforcement of the mortgage industry, but that the new partnership will bring into play the potential of criminal charges.

"The whole idea is to make Iowa a very bad place to do mortgage fraud," said Miller.

Mortgage fraud can range from altering the value of a property, to taking multiple loans on a property, to falsifying income data.

That kind of sounds like the guy in Marion who took out a 100% mortgage on a $199,000 house in 2005 with an adjustable rate mortgage, obtained a second mortgage to finish his basement which was paid off, but is today behind on the payment due to unemployment and then choosing to spend his day in a Kirkwood Community College classroom rather than finding money to get current because Obama has some program that will lower his payment.

No, wait, that guy wasn't engaged in mortgage fraud!  He was just doing what the system allowed!  The evil capitalistic unfettered system of checks and balances that Barney Fag declared in 2004 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was "not in crisis" and which let Mr Marion drive his car over the edge!

Attorney General Tom Miller, you crook, go ahead and partner with the FBI to create another worthless government organization to make more waste, fraud, and abuse.  You good-for-nothings!  Just please don't destroy my American dream!

Angry Liberal Letter Of The Day

From the Dead Moines Register:

Bob Vander Plaats was defeated in the last two gubernatorial primaries.

The citizens of Iowa have spoken, Vander Plaats. You need to listen to the will of the people, and voluntarily leave the state.

— Mary Howell-Williams, Des Moines

Yes, this is what the left calls "tolerance", isn't it?

Lose a couple of gubernatorial primaries and you should be forcibly exiled to South Dakota!  Mary Howell-Hyphen-Williams demands it!

Ed Fallon, you lost a gubernatorial primary once.  Don't try to run again because if you do and lose Mary will force you to pack up your organic chickens!

Steve Suckup, or whatever you name is, don't run again!  Gross Doug, too!

This is as opposed to Senator Tom "The Crook" Harkin, who hasn't lived in Iowa in decades.

Wait, why should Bob Vander Plaats leave Iowa?  According to other angry liberals, what Bob Vander Plaats did was a reason to leave Iowa!

You know, I don't really care about Bob Vander Plaats.  Bob Vander Plaats will never really get elected to anything in the future unless Steve King dies.

Bob Vander Plaats pisses off liberals because he was successful in getting a slightly larger percentage of voters than in years past to vote against the judicial retention of three Iowa Supreme Court justices.  I think he's kind of a one trick pony.  But like the Des Moines Register main obsession, Sarah Palin, Bob Vander Plaats will forever scare the far left in politics in Iowa, so get used to moronic letters like we see from Mary Thurston-Howell-Williams.

Democrat-Majority Iowa Supreme Court Continues To Be Pro-Criminal

From the Quad City Times:

Evidence of drugs found when police searched a Davenport parolee’s motel room in 2007 cannot be used against him after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday to uphold a district court judgment.

James Maximiliano Ochoa, 40, was arrested Oct. 15, 2007, on suspicion of drug possession, unlawful possession of prescription drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia at the Traveler Motel, 433 14th St., Bettendorf.

According to the Supreme Court opinion:

Ochoa was on parole from his 2004 conviction for conspiracy to commit a forcible felony.

A Bettendorf officer, who did not have a warrant, searched his motel room and found a crack pipe, cocaine and prescription drugs not prescribed for Ochoa.

The officer searched the room with the understanding that parolees in Iowa are required to agree to be subject to searches “at any time, for any reason.”

Ochoa did not consent to the search.

At a hearing on the motion to suppress the evidence, the officer testified that he had no particular reason or cause for suspicion that illegal activity was occurring at the motel or with regard to Ochoa.

Scott County District Associate Judge Christine Dalton granted Ochoa’s motion to suppress the evidence. Dalton ruled that the search was based on an “inaccurate understanding of the parole agreement and its relationship to constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

Dalton stated that the parole agreement did not amount to a “broad blanket waiver of constitutional rights.”

She relied on an Iowa Supreme Court decision that a parolee “did not surrender his Fourth Amendment rights by virtue of his status as a parolee.”

On appeal, the state “shifted positions and asserted that Ochoa consented in advance to the search by executing the parole agreement.”

The Iowa Court of Appeals reversed the district court, noting that by signing his parole agreement, Ochoa “was aware of his diminished Fourth Amendment protections.”

The Supreme Court tossed out the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstated the judgment of the district court.

“Prior to this decision, it was widely believed that parolees consented to warrantless searches as a condition of parole,” Scott County Attorney Mike Walton said in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling. “In this decision, the Iowa Supreme Court has made it clear they will strictly construe constitutional issues, even more strictly than the U.S. Supreme Court.”

As one commenter points out, Iowa parolees have greater Fourth Amendment rights than do Iowans getting on a commercial airline flight.

The pro-criminal Iowa Supreme Court, stacked with liberals and suggested by a commission containing 86% Democrats continues on like nothing has happened.

You parolees, your life just got a little easier in Iowa.  So go get that crack pipe and some prescription medication that isn't yours, and sit back and enjoy watching The Man have to run downtown to get a search warrant.  That will give you time to hide any guns, ditch any stolen items, and flush half of Columbia down the toilet.  You can thank Brent Appel when he's up for retention, or donate some of your ill-gotten money to the Democratic Party.  They're going to need it.

Tom Harkin Is A Crook

While this blog was on hiatus, the Iowa Association of School Boards scandal hit.  There was a post in early April about Tom Harkin's association with funding overpaid crooks like the IASB's Maxine Kilcrease, just like Harkin was involved with funding overpaid CIETC head and convicted criminal Ramona Cunningham and others a few years back.

In today's update by Clark Kauffman in the DMR, I was able to get filled in on recent developments.  Here's one of them from the sidebar:

Since July, when the Iowa Association of School Boards was made subject to the state's open-records law, The Des Moines Register has made four formal requests for IASB documents that have yet to be fulfilled:

SEPT. 14: The Register asked for e-mails between IASB officials and Michael Perik, a Rhode Island businessman whose companies have collected more than $6 million from IASB, and Sen. Tom Harkin. Perik is a financial supporter of Harkin, who has routed $12 million in federal grants and earmarks to IASB. The association is refusing to turn over the records since they were created before July 1 when IASB was made subject to the open-records law.

Through a state lawmaker, IASB has asked the attorney general for a legal opinion as to whether pre-July records must be disclosed.

And of course there's today's developments involving altered bills and longtime Des Moines lawyer and Democrat water carrier Nolden Gentry.

It seems like a rinse and repeat of the CIETC scandal, doesn't it? Except that Archie Brooks isn't banging anybody.

Yet.

How long before Chet Culver, in his waning days as governor, appoints Jonathan "I'm Gay" Wilson to whitewash everything?

I can tell you one thing, the taxpayers will get taken to the cleaners on this one.  For sure.

And what about Senator Tom Harkin, the crook?

When are you Republicans in Iowa going to stand up and kick Tom Harkin in the ass on a daily basis?

What about you Independents?

What about you Democrats who hate scandal, fraud, waste, and abuse?  Or does political affiliation trump all of that?

Yes, Tom Harkin needs to have his ass kicked on a daily basis.  Tom Harkin is a crook.  He's wasted millions and billions of our tax dollars.  He's involved with scandal after scandal.  He needs to be removed from the Senate and put in prison for the rest of his life.  He is destructive, a liar, a fraud, and a hypocrite.

How come you girls are afraid to call Tom Harkin what he really is?  HE'S A CROOK!  He's a crook of the People's money.

I just don't get it.  How come Senator Crook isn't scandalized?  How come he doesn't need to hire a lawyer?  How come nobody talks back to him in the media?  How come we don't have banner headlines every day on what a thief he is?

Instead we have column after column in the DMR about whether or not Sarah Palin in going to run for President.  Who gives a shit?  We have a goddamned thief as a senator!

Tis The Season To Profile Somebody Who Made Some Bad Decisions

The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a story about a guy who is behind on his mortgage and is desperately seeking a loan modification due to unemployment.

There are a number of things about this story that trouble me, mostly because it's written from a "What Is The Government Going To Do For Me?" angle.  Don't you know that can't rely on the government for anything?  Obama's Home Affordable Modification Program has been nothing short of a disaster, yet where is the criticism of it in Iowa's newspapers?  There has been almost none.  In the Gazette story, it's treated as a numbers game.

As for the homeowner, his first mistake was buying his $199,000 home in February 2005 with an adjustable rate mortgage.  Back then, he could have gotten a 30 year, fixed-rate mortgage for around 5.72%.  Why in hell did he get an adjustable rate mortgage?  This detail is huge, yet is glossed over in the story.  Only a moron gets an adjustable rate mortgage, particularly when rates are near historic lows!  Even if rates don't go up, why put yourself at risk?  Lock it in!  An even smarter thing to do would be to buy a home with a 15 year, fixed rate mortgage.  The payment is a little more, but you're paying down principal much faster.  If he had gotten a 15 year fixed rate mortgage he would have considerable equity at this point to tap in the event of an emergency.  I'm not saying that tapping equity is the smartest idea, but it beats being unemployed and upside down nearly 6 years later or having no equity.

One look at the mortgage information via the Linn County Recorder shows that the guy took out a $199,000 mortgage.  100% of the sale price!  Nothing down!  I could go on for hours about what a terrible idea this is.  A 100% mortgage with an adjustable rate is playing with fire!

Then in 2007 he somehow was able to get an $11,000 second mortgage which was paid off in June of 2010.  What do you want to bet that the lender massaged the value of the home in order to get it qualified?  That happens all the time.

Look at another thing on the guy's house.  The tax assessment went up more than 10% in the past year!  Do you really think home values have climbed 10% in the past year?  I don't know about the Cedar Rapids/Marion market, but where I bought after moving back to Iowa a few months ago it was a buyer's market.  If I were him, I'd challenge this.

There are some things where I do feel sorry for the guy.  He lost a couple of jobs, one because of the flood.  That can happen to anybody.

But then he's spending the next two years at Kirkwood Community College taking some courses in order to maybe get his foot in the door somewhere.  Is that really a smart idea?  Wouldn't it be better to look for jobs in another part of the country?  When you've got an income crisis that affects your family's home you shouldn't be spending your days sitting in a classroom!  You need to be working.  What do you want to bet he took out a bunch of student loans?

Once again, newspapers choose to profile somebody who made a bunch of bad decisions and expects the rest of us taxpayers to bail his stupid ass out.  I don't mean to pile on, but where is the newspaper story that admonishes stupid behavior like this?  No, you have to turn to talk radio shows like Dave Ramsey or Bob Brinker to hear the truth about what is sensible money behavior. 

In the liberal-run vacuum of news rooms around the country, the meme is to blame the Too Big To Fail bank that was gladly forced to take TARP money.  I have no love for Wells Fargo Bank, but come on here, they are the least of the problem in this situation.  And we don't criticize Obama, Fannie Mae, Barney Frank, Chuck Grassley, or any politician who signed on to all this nightmare of legislation.  And god forbid blaming the guy who caused all the problems to begin with:  the "homeowner" who threw logic and sense out the window in order to buy a new home he couldn't afford, and the mortgage companies who rubber-stamped this stupidity with the government's blessing.

Drive By Hits For December 18, 2010

You're never going to believe this shit.  The Des Moines Register continues to obsess on Sarah Palin.  Give it up liberal bitches, she ain't runnin'.

Old fart Leonard Boswell said keeping tax rates the same for the very productive members of society amounts to "a multibillion-dollar ransom in the form of tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent", you should talk Boswell.  How much did Congress spend over budget the past few years?  Hell, every year you can't manage the nation's money!  That's a multi-trillion dollar ransom for future generations, something you won't be around for soon, Boswell.  You're old and your parts are wearing out, robot.

OK Henderson says Gov Chet Culver is at peace with being The Biggest Loser in Iowa politics this year.  Maybe now he'll go on The Biggest Loser and shed a couple hundred pounds.

Iowa Department of Economic Development is wasting $2.26 million in taxpayer funded corporate welfare on some startup company in Ames called WebFilings.  At an alleged 250 jobs, that amounts to $9000 per job.  Cheap!  Where are they getting the slave labor from?

The Iowa Supreme Court is letting a guy (Julio Bonilla) who was 16 when he was charged with kidnapping go free after just a few years in prison.  He was tried as an adult and originally got a life sentence.  How long after Bonilla is let out will he commit another crime?

Sanctuary Cities = Socialist Cities

The Iowa City Press-Citizen has a story on Friday about how a small number of people there want Iowa City to become a "sanctuary city" for illegal aliens.

Look who gets quoted in the story!  Katy Hansen, the United Nations apologist.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette has a larger story on this and quotes some asshole Socialist who claims to be "Haitian-American" (which is it?) and who wants Cedar Rapids to become a sanctuary city:

In Cedar Rapids, the movement is born out of class struggle, said Marlon Pierre-Antoine, a Haitian-American leading the sanctuary city movement there.

“The working class cannot win the struggle against the ruling class unless it is united,” said Pierre-Antoine, 20, an organizer for SocialistAction, which calls for a world without borders and immediate citizenship for all immigrants.

How about the hypocrisy of an organization wanting "a world without borders" but "immediate citizenship for all immigrants"? Is that not laughable?  What a bunch of idiots.

Let's dig a little more into Mr Marlon Anti-American's online profiles, should we?

Here's Marlon's Facebook picture. For some reason at MySpace he's known as Rex Marhiku.  Here's another MySpace page with his "Marlon" name.

According to Marlon, HAITI - Earthquake + Capitalism = Disaster.  Yes, capitalism is a disaster, but only to a loser Socialist.

He's part of the Socialist Alternative in Cedar Rapids.  He probably is the Socialist Alternative!

Marlon is also the author of the upcoming young adult novel WANDERING STARS, the first in a projected paranormal romance trilogy.  He doesn't have the book written, but he's got a soundtrack for it!

Marlon also writes micro horror. The only horror there is how bad the writing is.

Let's get back to Marlon's Socialist nonsense.  Here's a piece he wrote on unionizing the unemployed.  Just read that crap.  He is an old-school Socialist retard retread.

Here's more Marxist-Socialist crap by him at The Hawkeye Worker.

He even has videos on YouTube:



A few years ago, Marlon had this Blogger site in which his About said: 

Marlon is a seventeen year old dude from Haiti whose hobbies include writing, pessimism, and referring to himself in third person. If you're attractive or female (or both!) and you'd like to get to know him better, his contact info is somewhere around here.

He's from Haiti?  I thought he was from Daytona Beach, Florida?

Somebody voted for Marlon Pierre-Antoine as US Senator in the recent elections.

Looks like Marlon went to New York in August to protest against anti-Islamophobia, whatever the hell that is.

He wanted a Federal bailout of the State of Iowa budget.

You can sign Marlon's petition to Governor Culver that 2 other people besides Marlon and some spammer have signed.

Interesting how the other person quoted in the Gazette story, Mari Araujo, was one of the signors of the online petition.  Here's Mari's quote in the Gazette:

Mari Araujo, 17, worries that she could lose her educational opportunities. Araujo was born in the United States and has lived most of her life in Cedar Rapids. The daughter of El Salvadoran immigrants — her father is undocumented — Araujo is studying for her GED at Metro High School.

As a commenter correctly points out:

If she was born in the US then she’s a US citizen and she would not be refused educational opportunities regardless of the status of her parents.

But then she is going to Metro High in Cedar Rapids, which is the Loser's High School, the "alternative high school" for pregnant chicks and stoners.  And morons.

The truth is that there are very few people in favor of this crap.  In Iowa City they only had "roughly 40 people" show up for the candlelight vigil.

Remember a couple years ago when anti-war protesters in Iowa City could barely fill a couple of minivans?

That's how popular this stuff is.  You could probably gather together more pedophiles in Cedar Rapids or Iowa City than you could Socialists.

Look for that idiot Rekha Basu or others at the Register to champion these Commies and write some gooey bullshit story about their struggle.  Those komrades all stick together.  Just like that Jew-hater David Goodner.  There's a clown in every town.  Keep shoving that anti-American shit down our throats, newspapers.

When Is The Des Moines Register Going To Publish An Edition In Spanish?

From the Register's Editorial Board:

Today's vote scheduled in the U.S. Senate on the Dream Act is an opportunity to break the gridlock over immigration reform. Passage would recognize young illegal immigrants brought here by their parents have much to offer this country. The bill could be a model for reaching consensus on sensible immigration policy in other areas as well.

The DREAM Act did not pass the Senate today.

And I'm sure whoever wrote this editorial didn't bother to actually read the bill.

My favorite comment on the Register editorial was from Gene130:

There is no author's name on this editorial so Rekha, how does this differ from your wanting to know who criticizes you? We should know which dim bulb in the witches coven writes this stuff. Oh, there is no requirement in the bill that they have clean records and applicants cannot be deported after they apply for any reason.

Des Moines Register's Editorial Board Serves Up More Red Herring

From the Register's Editorial Bored ("Iowa's judge-picking process is on trial"):

Iowa's court system suffered a grievous blow with the removal of three members of the Iowa Supreme Court in the November judicial retention election. That apparently was not the end of it, however. Iowa's judicial-selection process is now under assault from critics who contend it is politically unbalanced and undemocratic. The process that's been in place for nearly a half century is itself now on trial, and it is not farfetched to worry that it, too, could be removed.

Instead, the Justices on the Register's Editorial Board want the Commission to publicly interview the candidates and have videos online.

What a red herring.

I find it the height of hubris that the Register wants to ignore that the current Commission is made up of 86% Democrats.  What is fair about that?  I bet the Register's Editorial Board members are upset that the Commission can't be made up of 100% Democrats, just like their little clique!

It doesn't help that the Register's indoctrinated "reporter" drones like Grant Schulte try to conceal this fact while The People, or at least those commenting on the Register's ongoing stories about this issue, smell a rotten fish when it's being dished up.

That's Right, Taxpayer-Funded Preschool Doesn't Help Iowa Children

From Jennifer Jacobs in the Des Moines Ragister:

Preschool doesn’t give children much of a boost and the state should pare back spending, a Republican legislative leader said today.

But a Democratic leader countered that preschool is critical and that’s one area that should definitely be protected.

“It’s very, very questionable where there is any benefit,” Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, a Republican, said during a legislative forum this morning sponsored by IowaPolitics.com...

...State Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who will lead the Democratic minority in the Iowa House, said children who start early with a good education with certified teachers are better off later in life – for instance, less likely to go to prison and more likely to get a higher-paying job.

“I thought that was pretty well settled around the country,” he said.

Really, Kevin McCarthy? Which study is that? The one you just pulled out of your ass?

This entire "public pre-school" thing is a money grab by the unions to get more money out of the taxpayers. It has absolutely nothing to do with education.

McCarthy, you big dumb ass, have you ever been in a room with a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds? How much learning is going on in there? Not much.

In Iowa, public pre-school costs the taxpayer $7000 per student. How much does your typical private pre-school cost? 3 half-days per week usually runs $125 to $150 per month.

Don't forget that this expensive failure is based on a report from The Perry Project, a study of 123 poor black children in Ypsilanti, Michigan, 58 of whom were put through a state-run pre-school back in 1962! The study failed to show much difference between the kids put in a state-run pre-school vs those who didn't attend.

Rekha Basu Said 'Manitoba Snowplow'

A reader clued me in to this Rekha Basu column on Sunday ("For civility, add names to opinions") in which she was going on about anonymous comments on the Des Moines Register's web site:

Goodbye, Manitoba Snowplow. So long, Blowtorch. Later, grandkidsrock.

If those pseudonyms ring a bell, it's because you've read this paper, or this column, online, along with responses from people using those and other fake names. If so, you know how crude, bigoted and misogynistic they can be.

Anonymity allows folks to escape the flak for some of the ugly and prejudiced things they say - and which flout the standards for what our society considers decent and civil.

Ignore the topic, because it bores me to death. Shit, how many years have those assholes at the Des Moines Register been going on about anonymity?  It's like a goddamn obsession with anybody who ever worked there. Yet a lot of the time, especially involving stories mentioning Steve King, you rarely see a byline.

The funny thing here is that Rekha Basu got the Register to print the words:

MANITOBA SNOWPLOW

What is a Manitoba Snowplow? Our friend, the Urban Dictionary has the answer:

A sexual act in which you are giving a girl anal and then push her arms out from under her and hump her across the floor.

"I manitoba snowplowed this girl so far she got carpet burn!"

Very funny, Rekha, very funny.  You really pulled one over on Washburn, didn't you?

Back to the boring issue she talks about.

Old Rekha says:

For whatever reasons, this column seems to be a lightning rod for that sort of demagoguery. But there is a relatively simple solution: Requiring people to use their real names when they comment. From now on, that will be the standard for commenting on columns with my byline. I'm willing to bet that step alone will force the quality of discussion to improve. When people know their friends, neighbors and co-workers are reading what they say, they have to be more accountable.

This isn't punishment, and it's certainly not to deny anyone's free speech. It's an invitation to come out of the closet. Newspapers have long required people who submit letters to the editor to give their names. But for various reasons, including the difficulty verifying identities, that requirement often is not made of online posters.

While many who comment have legitimate and valuable differences of opinion to share on a subject, and the back and forths can be entertaining, the ugly posts poison the well. Some, hiding behind their anonymity, use the forum for orchestrated harassment campaigns. One poster even wrote me as much, pledging to "abuse you from the comment section" until I quit or die.

Rekha didn't allow any comments on this column. How about that.

It's not like you can't fake a real name, Rekha.

Rekha, I wonder how many lifelong subscribers you've pushed away from the Des Moines Register over the years.

Rekha, I wonder how many ad dollars left and never came back because you insisted on pushing your Marxist nonsense every week.

Rekha, I wonder how many of your fellow co-workers were fired because you write bullshit that almost nobody in Iowa agrees with and drove away so many subscribers and advertising dollars?

You are one of the poisons of the Des Moines Register. You helped ruin that newspaper.  I bet you're proud!

No wonder I didn't pay attention to your Sunday column. I quit reading your crap years ago. It takes somebody else pointing it out in order for me to pay attention, and then only because you mention a login name that has a reference to an anal sex act and you don't tell everybody about the inside joke.

Why Iowa Football Player Derrell Johnson-Koulianos's Drug Arrest Will Be Thrown Out

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen:

According to police documents, Iowa City Police Street Crimes investigators were conducting a drug investigation on Johnson-Koulianos' roommate, 21-year-old Brady C. Johnson. Police served a search warrant at the residence they shared at 1128 E. Washington St. at 1:50 p.m. Inside, officers allegedly found marijuana, more than $3,000 cash, a digital scale and other items used in the sale of drugs.

Police said they found cocaine, small quantities of marijuana and Pamoate, Diazepam, Hydromorphone Hydrochloride and Zolpidem Tartrate pills in Johnson-Koulianos' bedroom.

No, no, no, no, no!!! You can't do that. Not in Iowa.

You can't search Johnson-Koulianos's bedroom on the search warrant for his roommate. You have to get a second warrant for that!

Don't those cops in Iowa City pay attention to the Iowa Supreme Court? This is from the Sioux City Journal less than 4 weeks ago:

Police should have obtained a separate warrant to search a room a Sioux City man was renting in a home where drugs were found, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The court overturned the drug possession conviction of Joshua Fleming, who was arrested after police found a small bag of marijuana in the closet of the bedroom he was renting in a house on Wright Avenue. The court said the marijuana found in Fleming's closet cannot be used as evidence and sent the case back to district court for further proceedings.

Fleming's attorney, Mark Smith, state appellate public defender, said the ruling affirms the law regarding illegal searches. He said it would be unlikely the case against Fleming would go forward.

“Without evidence it will be hard to convict him,” Smith said.

I predict that the charges against Johnson-Koulianos will be thrown out before the Insight Bowl.

Des Moines Register Completely Silent On The Pigford Settlement

There are no articles in the Des Moines Register as of today concerning the Pigford settlement.

This, despite recent criticism of the case by Steve King and talk from Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack about not going after employees who allegedly discriminated against black farmers.

Here's some info on the case from Human Events:

The original plaintiffs in the Pigford class-action suit numbered less than 500. The USDA estimated that no more than 2,000 claims would ultimately be filed. Who in blazes would be stupid enough to make such an estimate? Oh, yeah, that’s right: Clinton appointees. To date, ninety-four thousand claims have been filed. The lame-duck congress just approved another $1.15 billion to pay them off. The National Black Farmers Association thinks there are about 18,000 black farmers in the entire country...

...Republicans Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, and Steve King of Iowa, have been asking tough questions about the Pigford scandal. King offered an amendment that would have reduced fraudulent claims before the Democrats seized another billion dollars for the program, but of course they blocked it. Bachmann supported his effort, saying it would be a “disservice to the American taxpayer” to approve the second round of payments without it.

Interestingly enough, Senator Chuck Grassley was one of the main drivers of the second Pigford settlement.

How come the Des Moines Register has totally ignored the Pigford settlement and the obvious red flags of government waste going on here?  Maybe because they know it's a billion dollar money grab for crooked leftist trial lawyers like Mike Espy?  And why has Chuck Grassley signed on here?

Much more real reporting going on at BigGovernment.com on Pigford.

Does Mike Gronstal Look Like A Dictator To You?

Everybody's talking about how Branstad called Mike "Kiss My Ass!!! Fuck You!!! Gronstal a "dictator" for never wanting to allow some pointless gay marriage vote thing in the Iowa Senate where Gronstal is the Democrats' barely-majority leader.

Dorman's talked about it at the Gazette. Jennifer Jacobs of the Register.  The Iowa City Press-Citizen.  That Mike Glover AP story sure has made the rounds, hasn't it?  Whether it be Sioux City or the Beaumont Texas.

How come nobody likes to talk about the time Mike got all mad at a bunch of senior citizens in 2007 and yelled "Kiss My Ass!!!" at them, then later billowed "Fuck You!!!" on his way out, which a large number of schoolchildren touring the Capitol Building heard.  Can you imagine if Terry Branstad or Chet Culver had yelled that?  We'd never hear the end of it.

Same with Hitler, a real dictator.  If Hitler had yelled "Leck mich am Arsch!!!  Bumsen sie!!!" we'd have books devoted to that quote.

Legalize It, Mon!

The Cedar Rapids Gazette is running a story about the University of Iowa poll (when did they start doing polls?) that shows, on a nationwide basis, support for medical marijuana at 65%, with 69% of Democrats, 57% of Republicans and 77% of Independents favoring its use.

Elizabeth Edwards Is Dead

Elizabeth Edwards has died of cancer. 

I can't wait for the media to whitewash what Elizabeth Edwards was really like, along with attempting to bury what a piece of shit her philandering husband John Edwards was.  Oh, look, the Des Moines Register has already started.

Let's remember Elizabeth Edwards as she was, left alone to battle incurable cancer while John Edwards was speaking at the 2007 Harkin Steak Fry during which time his "girlfriend" Rielle Hunter had a 3 month old "fetus" in the oven. 

Don't forget that Elizabeth Edwards used in a story in 2004 about having to go back to work as a bankruptcy attorney in the early 1980s just 10 days after having a C-section and giving birth to daughter Cate, despite husband John already being a successful trial lawyer.  She couldn't have gotten a note from her doctor?  She couldn't afford the time off?

Remember also during the 2004 campaign when Elizabeth Edwards suggested that Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne might have been "ashamed" that their daughter was gay?

That's the kind of person Elizabeth Edwards really was.  Maybe too much of her husband rubbed off on her.  It's too bad she died of cancer because I would have hoped that she could have lived long enough to divorce that dog of a husband of hers, but you know those Democrat women like Hillary Clinton enjoy being humiliated in public.

76 Rusty Trombones Lead The Big Parade

Nobody has followed the Iowa Film Office tax credits scandal better than the Tax Update Blog and today's post ("Economic Development, One Lawsuit At A Time") is no exception.  It's a must-read.

The only thing negative I'll say about Joe's coverage was that when the tax credits were passed by the Iowa Legislature he had no idea what an enormous scandal this would turn into.  Oh sure, he knew it wasn't smart policy.  Teasing statements such as:  "If it weren't tax season, I would spend more time pointing out just how absurd this thing is..." only hinted at the possible depth of trouble.

That's what you get for relying on a blog for news instead of some place where information has been verified, has been scrutinized by editors, has been fact-checked and proofed.

Instead, we Iowans passively listened to the local monopoly corporate newspaper, the Des Moines Register, otherwise known as Harold Hill's Rusty Trombone section leading the big parade on the issue of Film Tax Credits.  And if you couldn't hear them there's always the 110 Corn Nuts close at hand in smaller newspapers and in TV news stations around Iowa; as well as the rows and rows of virtuosos, the cream of every famous band in the Iowa Legislature!

Sodomy Licenses

Nathan Tucker, writing in the Iowa Republican web site yesterday:

Iowa’s lack of a marriage residency requirement has caused Iowa to become, in the words of Representative Steve King, a “gay Mecca” ever since the Iowa Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in April of last year. To date, those out-of-state gay couples who come to Iowa to be married return to states that do not recognize such marriages. All that will change next year when one of Iowa’s neighboring states will begin to recognize gay marriages performed in Iowa as valid.

On Friday, the Illinois Senate passed a civil union bill by a vote of 32-24-1, the day after it passed the House by a one-vote margin. The bill is all but certain to be signed by Governor Pat Quinn, one of its most ardent supporters, and will take effect June 1, 2011...

...This likely means an influx of Illinoisans crossing the border to obtain their sodomy licenses that will, for the first time, be recognized as valid when they return home. So far in 2010, 95 of the 223 same-sex marriage licenses issued in Davenport have gone to residents of Illinois, even though those licenses currently aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.

This is the problem with part of the Republican Party in Iowa, coming out and saying shit like "sodomy licenses" in a column.  What is that?  Why is Nathan Tucker still obsessed with gay marriage right now?  Aren't there bigger fish to fry than bitching about a bunch of queers from Illinois driving to Iowa to be pronounced Adam & Steve?  Have you seen the size of some of these lesbians lately?  It's a wonder that our infrastructure doesn't fall into the Mississippi River with the inevitable busloads of butch dykes ready to tie the knot and insert the strapon.  Dear oh dear, this means that Iowa's cake decorators will see an upswing in business.  Probably so much business that they'll earn above $250,000 a year so they'll become "rich" and cost the State coffers money.

When are the cavemen Republicans in Iowa going to get their priorities straight?  They only seem to want to have one thing straight, and it's never fiscal priorities.  They're so obsessed with things being straight that they turn themselves into pretzels about it.

Nathan Tucker, get over it.  Gay marriage is the law in Iowa.  It's not the way I would have wanted it made into law, but it's the law now.  Focus on bigger things, would you please?

Raising Taxes On The Rich

Yesterday this blog asked the question: 'How much revenue are you going to extract out of "the rich" if the tax rates expire?' because partisan whack jobs and economic illiterates like ISU Economics "Professor" Sue Ravenscroft never mention it in their defense of class warfare.

Here's the alleged answer.  Ezra Klein, a lefty, says in his November 30th Washington Post column:

the tax cuts for income over $250,000, which benefit workers doing much better than the average federal employee and cost about $700 billion over 10 years

$700 billion over 10 years would be about $70 billion a year, right?

Hey, Ezra and Sue, how much was the deficit in the past fiscal year?

According to WikiDikiPedia, the 2009 fiscal year deficit was $1.42 trillion dollars.

That means if the US had higher tax rates already for those with incomes over $250,000, the deficit in the 2009 fiscal year would have only been $1.35 trillion.

Is the math correct there?  $1.42 trillion minus $70 billion is $1.35 trillion.

What a dent!

That Obama and this Congress is really tackling the deficit!  Give our B+ President some credit!

Meanwhile, Sue Ravenscroft, raising taxes on the "rich" in Iowa will cost the state at least $30 million a year due to Federal deductibility, something you must have purposefully declined to mention in your recent letter to the Des Moines Register, considering one of your fellow ISU colleagues loudly proclaimed that a few months ago.

Tom Harkin The Food Nazi Is Regulating Your School's Bake Sale

From the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil:

In yet another highly partisan vote, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the bill requiring schools to provide more nutritious school meals and vending machine offerings. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature...

...Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was among those who voted for – and spoke favorable of – passage of the bill.

“For too long, we have allowed the unchecked sale of junk food in our schools to undermine not just the health of our kids, but also the desires of parents, and our taxpayer investment in school meals,” Harkin said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., voted against the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and issued a statement calling it “another example of the federal government overstepping their authority to force costly and ludicrous mandates on local school districts.”

Among the “ludicrous mandates” that Terry pointed to was a provision that calls for bake sales and concession stands to be subject to nutrition standards. Bake sales and other school-sponsored fundraisers that sell unhealthy foods could be limited under the legislation, which only allows them if they are infrequent.

The new nutrition standards would be written by the Agriculture Department, which would decide which kinds of foods may be sold and what ingredients can be used. The department would also determine how often bake sales and the like could be held.

The nutrition standards will be written by the Agriculture Department, which is currently run by that idiot Tom Vilsack.

Goodbye to chocolate chip cookies.  Hello to organic soy carob bars.

I can't wait to see how those sell.

Isn't that great?  We just continue to elect that lying asshole Tom Harkin to office, and the lameass media never challenges him on anything that he says.  He doesn't even live in Iowa.  Now you're going to have The Toms telling the high school football concession stand what to sell.  Better cook that popcorn in air rather than in oil and don't you dare cover it with real butter!  What will actually happen is that the mandate will trickle down through a series of overpaid administrators who will throw the hammer down on anything that tastes like fun.  We'll end up sneaking in our favorites anyway.

They really want full control over your life, don't they?  Let's ignore that any kid with obesity in childhood probably has it due to the poor eating and exercise habits of parents.  Because of that, the school will be forbidden to sell anything to anybody with the usual things hippies hate:  high fructose corn syrup, bleached flour, or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, even if some parent made it in their home for a fundraiser.  Instead, we'll have to stop by some weird store staffed by people with sleeve tattoos and pierced lips to buy some overpriced crap meant for righteous commies with Vitamin B12 deficiencies who ride bicycles as their main mode of transportation even during winter.  Sieg Heil to the Food Nazi:  Tom Harkin!  The Brave New World is upon us.  Hail Obama!  Bow down to your Messiah!

The Farmland Bubble?

Dan Piller has a must-read piece in the Des Moines Register today on the amount of speculation going on with farmland in certain parts of Iowa.  Some tracts of land have been selling above $8000 and $9000 an acre in Central Iowa, and there's a mention of the auction last month in Sioux County where land sold for nearly $14,000 an acre.

What's good about this lengthy article is that Piller mentions the history of past bubbles in the 1920s and the late 1970s, and raises concern about the possibility that farmers might be tempted to over-leverage themselves through land acquisitions or borrowing on equity to buy new equipment.  I rag on the Register often, but this is the kind of quality journalism that peeks out every now and then.  The chart showing the range of average farmland prices over the past 38 years is important to see as it shows that farmland values have doubled in the past decade.

It will be interesting to see what will happen to the ethanol subsidies and protectionist tariffs in the next few months or years.  Also under consideration is a scaling back of welfare payments to farmers for a myriad of reasons, none of which have ever really make sense.  If any of that stuff gets repealed, expect to see commodity prices fall and the usual bursting of the bubble.

Raising Taxes On The Rich Will Cost The State Of Iowa At Least $30 Million A Year

Here's another Democrat partisan / history revisionist getting a letter printed in the Des Moines Register:

People who support continuing the Bush tax cuts on taxable income beyond $250,000 usually give two basic reasons. They say the tax cuts on the wealthy help in job creation; and, second, because of this alleged positive effect on jobs, they say the economy grows and the deficit shrinks.

Except for the Hoover presidency, which covers 1929 to 1933, the George W. Bush presidency had the worst record of job creation since 1921, the earliest year shown by the Bureau of Labor statistics figures. So almost 10 years of Bush tax cuts have coincided with an unprecedented, abysmal record of job creation.

How about the deficit? Can we see positive effects there? Just the opposite. George W. Bush was inaugurated in January 2001. On Sept. 30, 2001, the final year of the Clinton presidency budgets, the national debt was $5.8 trillion.

On Sept. 30, 2009, the final year of the Bush budgets, the national debt was $11.9 trillion. The debt more than doubled during the Bush presidency.

This increase was not despite the tax cuts; according to analysis based on the Congressional Budget Office figures, the Bush tax cuts are the single largest cause of the Bush presidency deficit. The Iraq war is second.

Extending tax breaks on taxable income exceeding $250,000 during a time when Social Security recipients are asked to economize, civil servants are told to step up and the unemployed face cessation of their benefits is not only unconscionable, it is totally unjustified by the economic facts of the last 10 years.

- Sue Ravenscroft, Ames

What I hate about Democrat partisans who write letters like this to justify class warfare and hatred of "the rich" is that they don't take into account that a lot of Republicans and Independents were pissed off at President Bush and the Republican majorities in Congress between January 2001 to January 2007 because they didn't control spending.  Look at Republicans like Chuck Grassley wanting to waste $50 million on that stupid rainforest and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Why do you think Bush's ratings were in the toilet in the final two years of his term?  It's because he was a weenie who hardly vetoed anything and let the Democrat majority Congress run over him with spending, TARP, and other insane crap.  Bush blew it with the fiscal conservatives.

Sue Ravenscroft has a convenient history here.  Her justification is that "raising taxes on the rich" leads to economic growth is complete BS.  She totally ignores the Republican Class of 1994 in Congress, which helped slow the growth of government spending in the mid to late 1990s.  I'll give Bill Clinton credit here, too, because he signed on to all of this legislation.

Sue also totally ignores the huge surge in spending in the past two years under Pelosi, Reid, and Obama.  Who cares what the income tax rates are on "the rich" if out of control government spending can't fix the banking industry, high unemployment, and massive numbers of foreclosures?

It's sick how all of a sudden the partisan left is upset about the deficit and how the only cure is letting the Bush-era tax rates expire.  Please.  How much revenue are you going to extract out of "the rich" if the tax rates expire?  We never see that figure in all the rants of the far left.  Is the deficit going to magically disappear next year if "the rich" are paying 39% of their income to the Feds rather than 35%?  No way.

And what is the impact on the State of Iowa if Federal income tax rates go up?  Iowa Independent quoted Iowa State University economist David Swenson back in September.  Swenson said that because of Federal deductibility in Iowa, those earning above $250,000 a year facing higher Fed tax rates will result in a $30 million loss of revenue for the State of Iowa starting in 2012.

Sue Ravenscroft of Ames, you forgot to mention that in your letter.

And who is Sue Ravenscroft of Ames?  Why it turns out she's a Professor of Accounting at Iowa State University!

How funny is that?  Somehow Sue's position and status was not mentioned by herself in the letter or by the Des Moines Register, nor did she reference the impact on the State of Iowa's coffers which had been previously analyzed by one of her colleagues.

Busted!

The Insanity Of Liberal Economics

I'm on a goddamn high horse about this "raise taxes on the rich" crap and the extremely high unemployment rate.  Aren't I?  I'm bitchy, grumpy, and just not willing to put up with any more bullshit by stupid libs and feckless RINOs who think a bastardization of Keynesianism is the way to move forward.

Case in point today is this post in the Blog For Iowa by some Vitamin B12 deficient looking hippie named David VanThournout who says stuff like:

We’ll it appears that the Grumpy Old Party has a soft spot for the mega-wealthy but not for the average hard working and out of a job through no fault of their own Americans. Big surprise there. Never mind that everything points to the loss of jobs as the number one problem the economy faces and is going to further guarantee the loss of profitability in the private sector. Which of course, in light of recent record profits on Wall Street, will not effect the bottom line at all as I’m sure they’ll just be terminating all the people hired temporarily during the holiday season to serve those that still remain employed.

The "mega wealthy" are now a family who earns more than $250,000 a year or an individual who earns more than $200,000 a year.  I know people like this.  They are not "mega wealthy".  Most of the time they are "mega busy" because they are important people with particular skills and lots of employees who depend on them.  They may have a nice house, new cars, and can take a good vacation once a year, but they're not "mega wealthy" like, say, John Kerry, John Edwards, Jay Rockefeller, Nancy Pelosi, or the Kennedy family.

How is the government taking more of what people earning over $250,000 a year going to put an "average hard working" person into a job?  Can you answer me that, idiot?

Who provides the jobs?  People with money create jobs, right?  Yes, they do!  Have you ever gotten a decent paying job from somebody earning $30,000 a year?  No, you haven't.  Not unless you're some drone working for the government with a job paid for by the taxpayers or the deficit, in which case you got your job because of some HR person's decision.

Why don't you stupid hippies have a more diverse bunch of friends?  All your friends are in academia, non-profits, or living off the dole.  You don't know any business owners or people who earn a high salary.  Stop being AFRAID of them and get to know them.  Their lives aren't all sitting around idly while counting their money.

It's like that dumbass Lori Morris, writing in the comments of a Cedar Rapids Gazette story yesterday.  She comes right out and says she is "not pro-corporation" in her views.  What is that?  That is mental illness on display, people!  Who employs people?  Corporations do, usually.

I'm not saying you shouldn't hate some companies.  I think it's fair game to hate corporations built on government lobbying, taxpayer-funded corporate welfare, and protectionist tariffs, like the bio-diesel and ethanol industries.  They are leeches!  They are the reason things are screwed up in this world.  That, and quasi-government entities like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and General Motors, too.

Back to Mr B12 Deficient Looking Hippie Guy's column:

I spoke with Research Associate Noga O’Connor, who reviews employment trends for the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project and she explained: “By not extending unemployment insurance — historically unprecedented with national unemployment rates near double digits — Congress immediately cut off or reduced benefits for about 44,000 Iowans. That will hurt the Iowa recovery, as unemployment benefits are spent immediately in the economy.”

Everybody knows the Iowa Policy Project are a bunch of Socialists in Mount Vernon, so this is nothing new.  The idea that cutting off unemployment benefits after NINETY NINE WEEKS is going to hurt the recovery in Iowa is complete and utter bullshit.  In order to HAVE a recovery, you need to get people OFF unemployment and INTO a J-O-B.  Am I wrong here?  I am not wrong here.

How long should unemployment benefits last?  According to Tom Harkin, they should last forever.  You "reporters" in Iowa on that conference call with him, did you even bother to ask Harkin how long unemployment benefits should last?  No, you didn't, because you're a bunch of butt-licking tools of the government who didn't want to upset the old Commie Liar Senator Who Doesn't Live In Iowa.  Don't want to be kicked off the phone call and have Harkin's staff call your boss at the newspaper and get in trouble, right?  You don't want to lose your job, right?  The job provided by some corporation, right?  Some rich person who gives money to Tom Harkin's campaign or sees him at dinner parties in the Bahamas or Virginia, right?  The same person looking to have your industry "bailed out" by the Federal government taxpayers because nobody wants to read the bullshit you write anymore because we all know it's bullshit.  Am I right?

Here's more:

When I spoke to Ms. O’Connor she said; "based upon 2009 numbers, which were slightly higher than they are today, somewhere around 30 million less dollars per month would be coming into the Iowa economy because of the failure to extend benefits." She later confirmed via email that for the month of October 2010 $31.4 Million in benefits were paid to Iowans. Ms. O’Connor also pointed out that most of the money that people receive in unemployment benefits goes directly back into the economy rather than into savings and would therefore have an immediate and direct negative impact upon the Iowa economy.

This is deranged.

Unemployment benefits are an economic recovery mechanism?

What sort of insane person thinks this crap up?

Oh, but we must raise taxes on the "mega wealthy" who create jobs and corporations and we must be "not pro-corporation".

Insanity.  This is insanity on display.

Don't the "mega wealthy" already pay the lion's share of income taxes?

"Oh, well, they don't need that!  They don't need that to save or invest or to buy things or to expand their business or to hire people.  The governments need it!  To give to people who aren't working!  Because that's part of the recovery!"

INSANITY!

These people, these Marxists, need to have their asses kicked, politically.  We started kicking their asses in November at the polls, but it will take a few more election cycles to really put them in their place.  They need to be mocked, ridiculed, and exposed as they stupid commies they are.

Their policies hurt people.  They hurt businesses.  They make people dependent on the government, which we should not be.  They incite class warfare, which is wrong.

I'm sure some of you don't like it that I'm calling these people dumbasses and idiots and douchebags.  If you can't handle that, please stop reading and go read some dumbfuck moron columnist like Kathleen Parker instead.

Hate The Rich

The Cedar Rapids Gazette had an online poll question:  Should unemployment benefits be extended?  Naturally, the newspaper doesn't bother to explain any of the details here.  Are we talking beyond 99 weeks?  How about extending them forever?  Who knows.

Does the Gazette explain that as of May 20, 2010, 32 states and the Virgin Islands have borrowed from the Federal Government to make unemployment benefit payments?  Hell no!  Why bother mentioning that little factoid?  It's better to keep everybody stupid and at each others' throats over hating the rich!

And hating the rich seems to be something that commenter "Lori Morris" comes back to in the comments of this story.  Here is a look into the mind of a liberal/statist idiot:

I will say this: it is hypocritical for those who say extended unemployment should be funded if passed to turn around and say it was okay to pass two wars, Medicare Part D and tax cuts for the wealthy, all unfunded. The tax cuts for the top earners need to expire as well because it’s equally hypocritical to hand over a tax cut to those who don’t need it but deny needed funds to meet basic day to day needs for those out of work long term.

If "Lori Morris" had written this in 2006, she might have a little bit of leg to stand on, except for the "tax cuts for the wealthy" bullshit. Lori Morris completely ignores how much debt Obama has signed on for in the past 23 months. The first deficit that Obama signed on for was more than all of George W. Bush's deficits combined.  In her mind, Lori Morris the partisan would never ever criticize a Democrat for a drunken spending binge.  Isn't it obvious?  Because of that, Lori Morris is the hypocrite.

After some back-and-forth banter, Morris replies:

The Oedibush tax cuts for the wealthy were unfunded, just like the rest of his major initiatives I’ve mentioned. If the govt can’t come up with a plan to make up for tax revenue it loses when the wealthy gets a tax break then why should it have to all of a sudden fund emergency unemployment benefits for out of work people? The wealthiest INDIVIDUALS can afford to be taxed more–and should be.

Who says when tax rates go down that revenue goes down?  Only a partisan liberal who can't do math.  When LBJ lowered tax rates in the 1960s, did revenue go down?  No.  When the Democratic Congress and President Reagan lowered tax rates in the 1980s did revenue go down?  No.  After Bush 43 got his tax rates enacted, did revenue go down?  No.

Listen, libs, I said REVENUE.  We're talking REVENUE here.  Not total spending.  I know those two concepts are confusing to you, but that's because you're a moron.

Now you install the Obama regime and a spendaholic Democratic Congress threatening tax increases and tremendous regulation and what happens?  Look around.  Companies not hiring, nervousness, unemployment, foreclosures, bailouts, bankruptcies, and endless deficits.

Lori gets in another round later on:

As to your is sue with small busines ses: I’m not a conservative like you obviously are– I’m pro person, not pro corporation and I believe in giving tax breaks to lower income persons who deserve them, not high income individuals who don’t need them.

Lori, you dummy, conservatives, at least fiscal conservatives, are all about the individual. Thomas Jefferson said it best in the Declaration Of Independence:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Lori, you don't think all Men are created equal. You think the lower income persons are more equal and the rich are jerks who "don't need them".  Some animals are more equal than others, right Lori?  What's the matter with you? Why are you so mentally ill? Why are you living in the United States believing that crap you're spouting? Why don't you move to some place more welcoming of such an attitude, like Cuba, Venezuela, or Zimbabwe?

What do you mean you're not pro-corporation?  What kind of asinine statement is that?  Does that mean you're anti-corporation?  Anti-business?  Where the hell do you think tax money comes from?

People earn their money, fair and square.  Either that, or they're criminals.  What do you think?  That all "rich people" are criminals?  You must!  Those evil rich people, they don't deserve all the money they've made.  Why, the government should just take it, and give it to lower income people!

You're just a commie, Lori Morris.  A Communist.  Admit it!

You statists have a fetish for nothing but big government.  And you don't care whether your politicians tell the truth, keep the checkbook balanced, or live by the same rules as everybody else.  You're all like Tom Harkin, that class envy asshole.  Your days are numbered after the 2010 elections, and especially after the 2012 elections.  Same with spendaholics like Chuck Grassley, the fraud.  Yes, I know Chuck Grassley was re-elected and will be until he poops into his diaper for the very last time because that's how Iowa does things.  Other states are electing politicians who are at least talking about doing the right thing.  The Harkins will die off with their dirty oil money well-protected in secret offshore accounts free of estate taxes, and the Grassleys of the world will be marginalized.  Maybe we'll get a better class of idiot going to Washington to ruin things in the future.  Who knows.

For now, we have to keep fighting and punching back at these pricks like Lori Morris who know nothing and spout bullshit.  Looks like there's a couple of Gazette readers who don't mind trying to educate these dummies.  Good luck to you all.  It's an impossible task.  Just remember, there's very few of them.