edited by: Art Smith,
Iowa Editor
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." ~ George Washington
[...]Fifty-six percent (56%) of U.S. voters now oppose the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That's the highest level of opposition found - reached three times before - in six months of polling.
[...]By Paul Chesser
Of all the faux-na and flora-children flitting through Copenhagen, Lord Christopher Monckton discovered the one activist -- from Greenpeace -- who was glad to hear that there's been no global warming for 15 years. All others think it's' [...]
The blog Talking Points Memo grabbed Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin just before he walked into a Democratic caucus meeting on Monday afternoon and Harkin seemed to signal that he’ll back the bill minus the two provisions sought most by liberals — a government-run health insurance plan and an expansion [...]
Had my first chance to observe former Gov. Terry Branstad in a public appearance since it become crystal clear that he’ll run for governor in 2010. Likely candidate Branstad has been leading the way among Republicans in 2009 polls pitting GOP guys vs. Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, [...]
David Costello and Joe Stevens advocate for the 1st annual Iowa homeless persons' memorial...local homeless issues. The parade of Iowa rip-offs gets longer (maybe we need a sabbatical) ...then, Dr. C.L. Gray wants to fix what ails healthcare.
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Rees said he isn't criticizing Democratic President [...]
New Yorkers are slowly losing the last fight in the nation against “computerized vote-switching devices.”
Don’t you love that term? I first heard it from a couple of longtime activists .
In this eloquent post New York engineer Howard Stanislevic explains that we could use the term ‘voting machines’ [...]
Bill Maske, the current school superintendent for the I-35 School District in Truro, said today he will resign his post next month to run for Congress as a Democrat for the 4th District seat now held by U.S. Rep. Tom Latham, a Republican.
“I am running because I am a public [...]
Newton Independent
Skiff Medical Center honored 18 individuals with a combined 400 years of service to the city-owned hospital during the 2009 Employee Service Awards held Friday at the hospital.
Employees, physicians and board members were invited to attend the luncheon. Interim Administrator Brett Altman, also a service award recipient, emceed the [...]
Gov. Chet Culver’s office today released a 121-page report examining the state’s tax credit programs.
Culver ordered preparation of the report, “State of Iowa Agency Reports on Tax Credits,” after allegations of mismanagement and abuse surfaced in the state’s tax credit program for film-making. Culver and state legislators have vowed [...]
OK... a few things... *sigh*......
1. Of course the game wasn't a featured game yesterday... (huge surprise) but I'm a radio listener anyway. Usually its the weekend guy at KWKY that falls asleep... then does [...]
Mark Rees, a retired architect from West Des Moines, today became the fourth Republican seeking his party’s nomination to oppose Democratic U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell this fall.
Rees, 55, joins a June 8 GOP primary race that already includes state Sen. Brad Zaun of Urbandale, former Iowa State wrestling coach Jim [...]
By PETER HUSSMANN
Due to my involvement with the St. Nick's Christmas Club, I'm forecasting a light week of posts, though I'll make an effort to get something posted everyday.
Club members are putting the final touches on this year's program that includes 225 Jasper County families with 525 kids. As I [...]
Even though it took a week of pressure to convince him, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, deserves praise for finally doing the right thing and speaking out against proposed legislation in Uganda that would sentence those found to be homosexual to death, the state’s largest gay-rights group said Monday.
“He [...]
Move over Miracle on 34th Street and the Nativity movie, “The Star of Bethlehem” outshines you this Christmas”. I just discovered a Christmas documentary shedding light on the Bethlehem star that I recommend should take prime time first billing for family movie viewing this Christmas. I [...]
State Fire Marshal Jim Kenkel said today he is retiring, effective March 12, after 23 years with the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
Kenkel has been state fire marshal since 2002, and previously worked in the State Fire Marshal Division as a fire inspector, investigator, and assistant state fire marshal.
There was [...]
If Iowa closes the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute or merges it with Independence’s institute, it would mean only “marginal savings,” and would raise expenses for the state prison that shares services on the same campus, Iowa’s human services chief said today.
It would cost as much as $2.6 million to [...]
Members of Zion Lutheran Church in Clear Lake voted to withdraw from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday because of the organization’s decision to allow homosexuals in committed relationship to serve as pastors, the Mason City Globe Gazette reports.
From the Globe Gazette:
The vote was 238 to [...]
Terry Branstad:
What was it that John Kerry said back in 2004, something like, “I actually voted for it before I voted against it?” Well break out the flip-flops because Branstad just had a senior moment or something. He bashes Culver for wanting to use money for roads [...]
By PETER HUSSMANN
The Newton City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. tonight to get a budget status update from city administration officials as initial fiscal year 2010-2011 budget work continues.
City officials are expected to paint a somewhat brighter picture of the city's financial condition than in years past due to [...]
Iowa’s labor unions have stepped up and made sacrifices in order to help the state get past record deficits, and now it’s time for lawmakers to look at the tax code, two prominent labor leaders said.
During a taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” the American Federation of State, [...]
Some miscellany for your Monday morning:
The Iowa Republican: Flaws Begin to Emerge in Branstad Campaign Washington Times: Obama secrecy Times of London: Developing nations stage walkout over Copenhagen stalemate Wall St. Journal: The ‘Cost Control’ Bill of Goods The Washington Post: An interference call for college [...]A plan for how state lawmakers could close one of Iowa’s four mental health institutes will be released today.
Legislators last session ordered the director of the Iowa Department of Human Services to submit a plan to close one of the four mental health institutes and to consolidate services at any [...]
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Des Moines, has yet another Republican challenger, as retired architect Mark Rees has officially joined the 2010 3rd District GOP primary.
Rees formed a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission last week. His campaign Web site, www.markreesforcongress.com, will go live next week [...]
Straight from Harvard:My Harvard colleagues Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna have recently conducted a comprehensive analysis of the issue. In an October study, they looked at large changes in fiscal policy in 21 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They identified 91 episodes since 1970 in [...]
President Obama Reverses Bush Anti-Labor Policies; Jobs Still Needed
For most of this year, former Governor Terry Branstad has dominated political news stories across the state. The speculation that began this past summer about a run for a fifth term for Branstad came to fruition this fall when he retired from Des Moines University to [...]
This was an interesting interview that Franklin Graham did with CNN’s Campbell Brown that covered Afghanistan (he has a son deployed over there, didn’t know that), Islam, his visit with Sarah Palin (he doesn’t think she’s going to run), and Operation Christmas Child:
Money quote [...]
He’s not the king, but Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) record isn’t so hot either, he comes in second of total amount of earmarks requested by Iowa’s Congressmen and Senators. He was skewered by Fox News’ Gregg Jarrett yesterday on about his own earmarks in the upcoming Omnibus [...]
America sees right through you.23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President.
42% Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19.
Today is the second straight day that Obama's Approval Index rating has fallen to a [...]
The current use of the filibuster is not "traditional." This memo from December 1964 shows that no one [...]
From Iowa to PalestineYou’ll be shocked to hear that Sarah Palin is on the Iowa tea-bagger short list as a favored Republican primary candidate.
Chris Good had to call Ryan Rhodes to find that out?
-mg
[...]Oh, the promises politicians give the rubes. I offer a parable to showcase the lunacy of the left.
There was a small town in middle America. It had its streets, its downtown, its people, and their cars. They drove all over town, getting to and from work. Somewhat frequently, there was [...]
One key goal of "health insurance reform" was to prohibit insurance companies from limiting how many dollars they would spend on a patient's care during a year. This makes sense if you want to eliminate medical' [...]
After having lunch with Steve Deace of WHO Radio on Tuesday, he got me thinking runaway judiciaries. They are, by and large, a barrier to implementing conservative principles legislatively and in executive policy. Obviously the big elephant in the room in [...]
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will be in Sioux City Monday for his first public appearance since making it clear he’s running for governor next year, even though he technically won’t take the “exploratory” label off until 2010. Branstad will speak at noon to the Downtown Rotary Club, a group [...]
There's a must read article in The Iowa Republican regarding liberal Roxanne Conlin, who hopes to win the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate and oppose Senator Chuck Grassley.
Conlin Proves She is Good At Spending Other People's Money
It should come as no surprise. A few weeks after announcing that she is a [...]
URBANDALE, IA. -- This week, Gov. Chet Culver released a budget proposal designed to allegedly “save” more than one billion dollars in the next five years.
However, at least one especially troubling aspect of Culver’s plan sticks out.
At issue: Culver touts $50 million in “savings” that would raid Iowa’s Road [...]
A federal judge today issued an injunction preventing the implementation of a congressional ban on funding for ACORN.
Judge Nina Gershon concluded that the ban amounted to a "bill of attainder" that unfairly singled out ACORN.
"[The plaintiffs] have been singled out by Congress for'" [...]
…you’re going to have to credit Obama with big brass ones if this actually happens. It’ll be the work of a guy who either
A. believes so strongly in the rules of engagement that he’s willing to gamble the electoral health of his party on it, including his own [...]
National Journal: Braley Fast Rising StarThe Des Moines RegisterWilliam Shatner earlier this year did a dramatic reading of Governor Sarah Palin’s tweets, and Conan O’Brien had him on for a dramatic reading of excerpts from her book, Going Rogue: An American Life. After he was finished he had a surprise visitor. This was hilarious.
[...]
Zero votes for the Wall Street reform bill, even one completely riddled with loopholes that will be readily exploited (Thanks, centrist Democrats, again, for representing nobody but the highest bidders).
Can we please toss a few more of these bums out? Are people really interested in a Republican party that [...]
After all, you lost $20K at the casino because you were being negative, a potential cooler.
In three years, minimal differences will be made, and Afghanistan will remain Afghanistan, and Iraq will condense into three segregated nation-states that will guarantee antagonism for decades to come. Note to Iraqis: the fact [...]
Growing Iowa’s economy through private sector job creation is the way forward
DES MOINES, IA. -- Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley (R-Chariton) issued the following statement today regarding the Revenue Estimating Conference’s new projections:
“The new projections today once again serve to underscore how short-sighted and fiscally [...]
JOHNSTON – Whether Iowa’s largest public employee union will work to help Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in his re-election bid will be up to the members of the union, its leader said Friday.
GOP challengers are lining up for the chance to take on Culver, who is expected to seek [...]
Last fall in Linn County's House District 37, my friend Renee Schulte defeated the incumbent, Art Staed by 13 votes. Given the razor thin margin, everyone knew that this race would be targeted in 2010.
Renee has been working hard already. She has been out door-knocking and [...]
Peter Greer, President of Hope International, "The Poor Will Be Glad" talks about micro-loans to the needy. Michael Ware, Iowa Carry" says taxpayers are paying for a lobbyist to work against their 2nd Amendment Rights. (an abbreviated podcast...technical problems with file)
[...]Congressman Steve King returned from Afghanistan this week with the sense that the nation’s cities have become more secure in the past year.
The Iowa Republican spent four days in the country, meeting with President Hamid Karzai, Iowa troops and civilian advisers. It was the third trip to Afghanistan for the [...]
Newton Independent
Beginning Monday, all Iowans will be eligible to receive an H1N1 flu vaccination, the Iowa Department of Public Health announced today.
"Local public health agencies have done a tremendous job during this vaccination campaign, and in getting those at highest risk vaccinated," said Tom Newton, director of the state's public' [...]
This week Cedar Rapids attorney Mark Seidl announced his plans to run [...]
A panel of experts announced Friday that Iowa’s revenue would once again shrink this fiscal year, but additional layoffs, furloughs or program cuts will not be needed.
The Revenue Estimating Conference, a three-member panel of experts whose revenue predictions are used to guide the governor and state legislature in setting [...]
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Last week’s Jobs summit and President Obama’s subsequent Job tour is either evidence of this President’s inability to understand the free market or an indication of his willingness to undermine it. Either way it seems that President Obama’s philosophy and policy [...]
The forecast for state revenue: Iowa will bring in nearly $37 million less this year than expected this past fall.
But no more mid-year cuts will be needed in state government because the state coffers currently have a $188 million cushion, budget director Dick Oshlo said today. That means there will [...]
Department of Human Services Director Charles Krogmeier Friday named two agency veterans as deputy directors of the newly reorganized department.
“In the short time that I have been here, I have leaned heavily on the expertise and institutional memory of these outstanding executives, and I’m delighted that they have agreed to [...]
Des Moines, IA- After consecutive months of increasingly startling unemployment numbers, Congressman Leonard Boswell’s stimulus is undoubtedly a failure. Since the passing of Democrats trillion dollar stimulus, Iowans have seen the economy continue to struggle while unemployment dramatically increases. Funding that was promised to go towards job [...]
To the Newton Independent
I would like to share a little story with you about my snow thrower and I. Today I was committed to take the three-foot deep snow off my deck. So I started my trusty 826-D John Deere blower and worked my way around to the steps blowing [...]
Recommendations issued by a consulting firm that promise to save the state $341 million could be authorized by an executive order in the coming days, a spokesman for Gov. Chet Culver said Friday.
Public Works LLC issued their recommendations Tuesday. Among the 90 ideas, the firm’s report advocates [...]
Newton Independent
Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, announced on Tuesday more than $18 million in earmark funding for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District for projects he says create jobs, invest in local communities and promote programs that help the state's children and families.
"The project funds for the 3rd District in this year's omnibus appropriations'" [...]
Many people don’t think Iowans will ever see much good from the hundreds of millions of dollars that Chet Culver and the state government pumped into film projects that were shot in the state. A new video from Kornfed Productions might change all of that.
The video taps into the [...]
On December 3rd, Congressman Boswell posted a YouTube video discussing the choices he’s had to make this year as we move forward into the Holiday Season. I cannot take this anymore. I am so disappointed with the results of a year of bad choices and reckless [...]
I had never heard Brooklyn-based TV On The Radio until a buddy shot me the link to this video. This is a great song and one of my favorite of the decade, but they just rocked the living crap out of it on Letterman. Even Letterman was blown away. [...]
My Lee Enterprises colleague Ed Tibbetts at the QC Times caught Terry Branstad at a stop in the Quad-Cities. His report here —
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said Thursday that it’s unfair to blame him for the survival of the Democrats’ health-care bill just because he made small donations [...]
Democrat Mark Seidl of Cedar Rapids has announced he’ll challenge incumbent Republican state Rep. Renee Schulte in Iowa House District 37.
Schulte won the district, which encompasses primarily northeastern Cedar Rapids, by defeating incumbent Democrat Art Staed in 2008 by only 13 votes. According to the Iowa Secretary [...]
By PETER HUSSMANN
A federal judge has allowed a lawsuit filed on behalf of Maytag retirees who asserted Whirlpool improperly made changes to the health care benefits of former workers at the Newton plant to be voluntarily dismissed.
Robert Pratt, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District [...]
Hey there QCI-ders... long time no talk.. Ne vous en faites pas. Cool? Thanks. Anyways... everyone all dug out?The National Journal asked Republicans which member of their party they would “most like to mute,” and Iowa’s own U.S. Rep. Steve King earned high marks.
The magazine’s Hotline On Call blog gave a sneak peak of the survey, and coming in first place at 16 percent was “no one.” [...]
As a bit of a public service, today I am going to talk about the Lincolnway Railport. This is the largest and most ambitious economic development project in the Clinton area in a long, long time. So, it is important to know all the facts.
Aerial [...]
After two and a half years at the helm of The Iowa Independent, Friday is my last day. The site will continue, but I’m moving on.
Editing this site has been both rewarding and humbling. The Hawkeye State has seen its share of excitement since this site was founded in April [...]
By Emily Geiger
So, a few weeks back, Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie was one of a handful of mayors invited to the White House for a jobs summit. Now, I hear that Cownie is on his way to Copenhagen for the climate change summit.
I’d say, [...]
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