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Enough said. The Mainstream Iowan blog has been around for a number of years and we have [...]
Fitch Ratings has downgraded and placed on Rating Watch Negative the ratings of Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) and its subsidiaries. The downgrades and watch assignments include the insurer financial strength (IFS) ratings of PFG's primary life insurance company subsidiaries to 'AA-' from 'AA' and its [...]
U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to sign the $787 billion economic stimulus plan into law at a ceremony in the western city of Denver, Colorado on Tuesday. Mr. Obama calls it a "major milestone on the road to recovery" for [...]
U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker, who represents Iowa's Southern District, says Vision Systems Group Inc. brought foreign workers to the U.S. to fill temporary high-tech jobs.
The company filed documents claiming the workers were employed in Iowa, [...]
Collision Dangers Resulting From
Phelps Party Friends Party PoopedAuthorities recently executed search warrants at two private homes in Columbia, S.C., and arrested eight people for marijuana possession, in connection with an investigation into the photo of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps holding a [...]
Investors are frustrated with the government's latest bank bailout plan — and showing it by unloading stocks. The major stock indexes fell more than 5 percent Tuesday, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which tumbled 382 points. Financial stocks led [...]
Smith, the top elections official in Anoka County, dropped a minor bombshell Thursday in the courtroom where a lawsuit over Minnesota's U.S. Senate race was being heard. She [...]
America is now nearly three weeks into the Obama presidency and already his administration has been plagued with a few political scandals. Chief among them are the inability of anyone in his cabinet to pay their' [...]
Information From The
My mission for 40 years has been to train Black Americans and find jobs for them. But it has become mission impossible as the government allows more and more jobs to be filled by legal [...]
The Pride of Gay Marriage In MassachusettsA lesbian couple who led the fight for gay marriage in Massachusetts has filed for divorce. Julie and Hillary Goodridge were among seven gay couples who filed a lawsuit that led to [...]
Bill Would Provide Taxpayers Equal Immunity Protection From IRS -After All, Democratic Politicians Receive Waived Penalties And InterestAll U.S. taxpayers would enjoy the same immunity from IRS penalties and interest as House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy [...]
Do All Americans Get The Same Treatment?
Thomas A. Daschle, fighting to defend his nomination to be secretary of health and human services, released a letter early today apologizing to the top lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee [...]
Some Say No, But Read The Details
GOP Sen. Norm Coleman’s attorneys pried a key admission from Minnesota’s assistant secretary of state Wednesday, who said some voters “absolutely” had their votes improperly taken away during the controversial recount that awarded the lead to Democratic [...]
Finally: American Workers First!Microsoft Corp. last week announced that it will eliminate 5,000 jobs because IT spending in the most recent quarter didn't meet projections.
At the same time, the company reported that its profits for its second fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31, fell' [...]
Not A Kennedy... Not A Cuomo,Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a second-term congresswoman from upstate New York, was Gov. David Paterson's pick to fill Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate seat a day after Caroline Kennedy abruptly withdrew from contention.
At 7:35 pm, Roberts administred the oath of office again to obama in the map room. Robert Gibbs said the WH counsel, Greg Craig, believes the oath was fine Tuesday, but one word was out of sequence so they did this out of [...]
The 44th President Of The United StatesOn a day rich in history, Barack Obama took office Tuesday as the 44th president of the U.S., urging Americans to stand together amid the "gathering clouds and raging storms" of war and recession.
The [...]
He Kept America Safe...
George W. Bush leaves the White House with one of the lowest approval ratings in history. According to Gallup, only Richard Nixon and Harry Truman, who suffered the double whammy of a [...]
Most metro-area public school districts will be closed, Thursday, January 15, due to dangerously cold weather.
This decision is being made jointly by area superintendents who have collaborated with their district staff, meteorologists and the national weather service.
[...]
Teens here are taking nude photos of themselves or others, sending them on their cell phones or posting them online.
Some teens do it as a joke.
For [...]
Misuse of Vicks VapoRub may have landed an 18-month-old girl in the hospital, Wake Forest University researchers suggest.
The previously healthy girl had an upper respiratory infection, for which her grandparents treated her [...]
Baltimore Mayor Sheila A. Dixon was charged today with 12 counts of felony theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office, becoming the city's first sitting mayor to be criminally indicted.
The case stems in part from [...]
Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces almost certain impeachment by the Illinois House, a historic step that would trigger a trial to determine whether the Democratic governor should be tossed out of office.
A simple majority vote will [...]
The state's high court has prohibited three Southern California parishes who left the U.S. Episcopal Church over its ordination of gay ministers from retaining ownership of their church buildings and property.
In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court ruled [...]
Victory in Minnesota's drawn-out Senate race moved within Democrat Al Franken's grasp Saturday when he increased his lead over Republican Norm Coleman as the statewide recount drew to a close.
The state Canvassing Board will reconvene [...]
When asked how they feel about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic, according to a Military Times survey.
In follow-up interviews, respondents expressed concerns about Obama’s lack of military service [...]
Ramona Cunningham, former chief executive officer of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium, apparently disagrees with the judgment made by Chief District Judge Robert Pratt during a hearing on Dec. 15. He told [...]
The 18-year-old daughter of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has given birth in Alaska to a son.
People magazine reports that Bristol Palin gave birth to Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston on Sunday. [...]
The ongoing recession and global economic shock pummeled stocks this year, with the Dow Jones industrial average slumping 36.2 percent. That's the biggest drop since 1931 when the Great Depression sent stocks reeling 40.6 percent.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index [...]
The Media Research Center today announced its Best Notable Quotables of 2008: The 21st Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting, and [...]
AFTERNOON UPDATE: FRANKEN TAKES LEAD:
According to a tally by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Franken has taken the lead as the state’s Board of Canvassers continues to review ballots challenged by both [...]
Slush has never smelled so spicy. City crews in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny are using garlic salt to melt snow and ice on streets from Tuesday's [...]
A whopping 582,000 direct and indirect jobs would be lost in Canada over the next five years if the ailing Big Three US auto makers shut down their Ontario operations, said a study Tuesday. If output is [...]
Former Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium CEO Ramona Cunningham was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Des Moines. She was accused of being the mastermind behind a scam that [...]
The UN global warming conference currently underway in Poland is about to face a serious challenge from over 650 dissenting scientists from around the globe who are criticizing the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President [...]
Tribune was toast the moment Sam Zell loaded it up with $13 billion of debt. That it is now considering bankruptcy, therefore, comes as little surprise. (Read this early prognosis from Alan Mutter if you doubt that sane industry observers saw [...]
Read Franken's Lips: "Loooooser"
Coleman held a 192-vote lead after the recount finished. But that doesn't account for more than 6,600 ballot challenges from the two campaigns. The results are muddied further by legal squabbles over Franken's push to include [...]
The Des Moines Register has reported that 41 people are being laid off and 15 open positions not be filled. Forty-one employees have been let go and 15 open positions won’t be filled at [...]
Most Americans sorely knew it already, but now it's official: The country is in a recession, and it's getting worse.Wall Street reeled at the news. The Dow plummeted 680 points, and all major indexes lost over 7 percent of their [...]
A couple of University of Iowa fans took a break from Saturday's game at [...]
The alphabet gurus at Merriam-Webster gave the honor to the word “bailout.”
People looked it up so often on Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary that it was an easy choice [...]
Representatives of 20 churches in Postville and Decorah are [...] 
Principal Financial Group Inc. (PFG) has applied to participate in the Treasury Department's Capital Purchase Program and could receive up to $2 billion [...]
The proposition, which overturned a May decision of the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage, has been challenged by a number of cities and civil rights groups, which [...]
For all the talk of San Francisco values, a Chronicle analysis of how the city voted on the state's same-sex marriage ban shows a city geographically divided on [...]
A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with [...]
Ballots Mysteriously Appear For Franken
- Lawsuits Likely -
Note: With ACORN filing more than 43,000 registration forms this year, 75 percent of all new registrations in the state, Minnesota was facing vote fraud problems even before the election. Even a small percentage of those registrations resulting in fraudulent votes could [...]
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Greta's Interview
"When I arrived at the convention, there were clothes waiting for me, and clothes being ordered for me and the family, for eight of us," the Alaska [...]
"There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters."
A state personnel board said Monday Republican vice-presidential [...]
Barack Obama asked John McCain for his help in leading the country in a telephone call Tuesday night, moments after the Democratic senator was declared the country's first black president.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama [...]
No matter who wins Tuesday's presidential election, you can be sure of one thing: The networks aren't going to hold back calling the election for Barack Obama or John McCain if either gathers the magic number [...]
The caucus of conservative-minded Democrats has been reluctant to cozy up to Obama, in some cases even distancing themselves from the popular presidential candidate. Scan the group's Web site, and you won’t find a single mention of their party’s presidential nominee.
[...]
Iowa’s Labor Commissioner assessed civil penalties against Agriprocessors, Inc. for repeated violations of Iowa’s wage laws from January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008.
“Once again, Agriprocessors has demonstrated a complete disregard for [...]
Uncle Ted, the Senator with an avuncular penchant for giftgiving — $3.4 billion in federal earmarks for Alaska since 1995 alone — has been convicted of receiving a few freebies of his own. Stevens, 84, was found guilty [...]
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has a pointed message for Barack Obama: This thing isn't over yet. Speaking in Tampa, Fla., on Sunday, Palin sharply criticized Obama for acting as if he's already won the [...]
Iowa State Senator James Seymour, a Republican representing the 28th District from Woodbine, pled guilty more than six years ago for solicitation after responding to an ad for [...]
The paperwork sent to a "Princess Nudelman" likely came from the "Women's Voices, Women Vote" project, which sent nearly 1 million mailings to Illinois households in August using a [...]
"It was so much fun and the cast members were amazing -- talented and sharp -- and very welcoming. It was a blast," Palin told "The Insider" while arriving at her New York hotel [...]
As strange it might seem, Alaska's glaciers could appear to be
shrinking for some time while secretly growing. Molnia said there are a few
glaciers in the state now where constant snow accumulations at higher elevations are causing them to thicken even as their lower [...]
A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served due to his unlisted home address.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit [...]
Lyric Excerpts:
If Jesus was a Democrat like the bible says he was...
I think Jesus would have been a card carrying liberal
If he was a young man born in the USA..
If Jesus was [...]
Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's refusal to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten from the state police force was "likely a contributing factor" to Monegan's July dismissal, but Palin had the authority as governor [...]
Who won the debate? Different answers from different people are given. Some say McCain. More say Obama. Last night was not the last debate.
The only poll that counts is the final vote on election day. Polls [...]
The Dow fell more than 800 points Monday, dropping below the 10,000 mark for the first time since 2004 as global markets suffered their worst day in years while the credit crisis spreads. Shares [...]
Can't See Video? Click Here!
Youth Corps And Similar Tactics Used By Others ... More militant Marxist indoctrination tactics reminiscent of the Hitler Youth, the Young Pioneers of the former Soviet Union, and the propaganda of North [...]
Youth Corps And Similar Tactics Used By Others ...
This smacks of pure, adulterated Marxist indoctrination tactics reminiscent of the Hitler Youth, the Young Pioneers of the former Soviet Union, and the propaganda of North Korea.
Read Article...
[...]
Note: While the nation's fixation with the bailout (rescue), and stocks plummet, ICE was doing their job:
Federal immigration authorities say more than 1,150 people have been arrested in a special three-week sweep in California.
The sweep targeted those who ignored deportation orders [...]
Sarah Palin
