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Thursday, September 29, 2005

MAYBE SHE SHOULD JUST QUIT AND WORK FOR MARY KAY

Sample responses today on the stupid pink locker room story that won't go away...

Greg, just a couple of thoughts on the pink locker room issue.
1. Just what we needed at the university is a professor teaching the students to play the sexist, homophobe, racist card when you disagree or don't like something.
2. On the other side of the coin, I hope the coach places more emphasis on the brain and brawn aspect of the gain rather than trying to psych out the other team with a pink locker room.
Bottom line, get rid of the pink room. It's an embarrassment to the school and the state.

Bob
U of I, BSME 1968
Bellevue, Iowa

"Psyching out" other players is standard practice in football...the band, fans (and their cheering), fake plays, all kinds of things can be done and are done to psych out other players and coaches.

Now, if Ms Busybody had brought this up under the "taunting" rules of the game...she may have a point...they change that rule all the time. But remember, she did so under the "gender equity" aspect of the NCAA...

Rule 9-2-1-a-1-a
Unsportsmanlike acts.
“Examples of such acts include, but are not limited to:
--Imitating a slash of the throat;
--Resembling the firing of a weapon;
--Bowing at the waist;
--Punching one’s own chest excessively;
--Crossing one’s arms in front of the chest;
--Placing one’s hand by the ear as if to indicate that the player cannot hear the spectators;
--Diving into the end zone when unchallenged by an opponent;
--Entering the end zone with an unnatural stride (e.g., high stepping);
--Going significantly beyond the end line to interact with spectators;
--Standing over a prone player in a taunting manner;
--Attempting to make the ball spin as it were a top;
--Performing a choreographed act with a teammate(s) (e.g., pretending to take a photo, falling down in unison);
--Entering the field of play by coaches or substitutes in protest of officials’ calls.”
Additionally, the committee added language to the rule that reads: “Spontaneous celebrating with teammates on the field of play, provided it is not prolonged, taunting or intended to bring attention to the individual player, is allowed.”
Rationale: By providing a list of examples, the committee hopes to assist officials to consistently enforce this penalty. Also, the committee believes there are some situations in which celebration penalties are flagged where the celebration was spontaneous and not excessive or prolonged. This isn’t a lessening of the penalty, but a reminder that team celebrations encouragement should be allowed.


Then, there's this brilliant comment from Ed in Iowa City:

Greg:
I think she may have only hit the tip of the iceberg. Let's look at other parts of Kinnick. What is the primary color of the Hawkeye locker room? It's yellow, which can stand for caution or coward. Is that what we want from our beloved Hawkeyes. And, what about the new turf? It is green and most of us associate green with the Irish. Isn't that offensive to other nationalities? The referees wear black and white striped shirts and are commonly referred to as zebras. This must make the PETA folks very angry. But lets not stop at Kinnick. Dr. Skorton should conduct a full investigation of all University facilities. We must have some rooms on campus that are painted blue, and we now know that these would be offensive to some females. And there may be white rooms, and we know that white is associated with angels. This could be offensive to atheists or people with religions that do not believe in angels. Beige has racial implications. So there are many colors out there, but are there any of them so neutral as not to offend anyone? Looks like we need Senators Grassley and Harkin to get us a big grant for the University to study this important problem. Thank you Erin for showing us the light! Maybe you should pick the color scheme for the new Rain Forest in Coralville.

Ed
Iowa City

And from the pink lady lounge...Marilyn

The color pink is said to be a girls color, while the color blue is said to be a boys color. So if pink is bad for boys than they better romove the color blue from all girls locker rooms as this would say they are to be moncho.

But another way to see the color pink in the locker room is that if you are calling them girlish with the color pink. They would be resentful and become more rilled up and want to come out with revenge.

It makes no matter what color the locker room is, I am sure it does not affect their game.

In fact, it just MIGHT have affected their opponents...Here's the record.

1980, Hayden Fry's first year...4 wins, 7 losses
1981, 8 wins 4 losses
1982, 8 wins 4 losses
1983, locker rooms painted pink, 9 wins 3 losses
1984, 8 wins 4 losses
1985, 10 wins 2 losses...Iowa in the Rose Bowl (where they lost...maybe because the locker rooms were neutral to each team, eh?)
'Nuff said

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE PINK

Okay...enough already about the pink locker room at Kinnick Stadium. The University of Iowa adjunct professor is a loon. End of story, right? Well...

Like terrorism, we should get to the root causes of the outrage over the pink locker rooms for visiting players at the U of I. It's football. Pure and simple.

Reading the Iowa City Press Citizen story about the controversy - and reading some of the comments made by those who object - I've discovered the true complaint is about the game itself.
Former Hawkeye football coach Hayden Fry had the visitor's locker room painted pink in the early 1980s. Fry, a psychology major, wrote in his autobiography that pink walls would put opponents in a passive mood" and "some consider it a sissy color."

Erin Buzuvis said she was not challenging Fry's decision to paint the walls, but rather wanted the certification steering committee to consider adding the issue to its final report.

"I'm not asking you to take out the urinals," she said. "I'm not asking you to paint the walls."

Jill Gaulding, an associate UI law professor, wants the locker room changed.

"I want the locker room gone," said Gaulding, who was wearing a pink shirt in support of Buzuvis.

She added that Fry's intentions were no longer the point.

AHA! There you go. Gaulding wants the entire locker room gone. I'm sure she's not really suggesting the men who use the locker room change and shower in the hallway. I'm not sure naked men covered in soap and all misty-like would get her engine going anyway...it's about the whole game itself. Witness this comment posted on a website of another blogger (the Yin Blog) who defended some of the particulars of the controversy:
Collegiate football is a barbaric sport that glorifies physical violence. The players receive preferential treatment because their activity is lucrative. Then, when some of the players abuse their privileges, either by poor academic performance or by off the field behavior, the University looks the other way. It's a shameful. Singling out the pink locker room misses the entire point. The entire sport, as it is currently practiced, is objectionable from a feminist viewpoint. Changing the locker room color to a neutral color is just re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Barbaric...physical violence...shameful...objectionable. Very Taliban-like, aren't they? It's time we end tenure and rid our institutions of higher learning of these isolated loony busybodies.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

WHY DON'T THEY JUST LISTEN TO AIR AMERICA?

Got an interesting press release today...
FCC Commissioners to headline ‘Town Meeting on the Future of Media’ in Iowa City

October 5 forum offers rare opportunity for Iowans to speak directly to Washington decision-makers

Federal Communications Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps will visit Iowa City next Wednesday to listen to local citizens’ concerns about media consolidation. This “Town Meeting on the Future of the Media” is a rare opportunity for the public to participate directly in crafting media policies that serve the public interest.
Oh, yeah...I'm sure everyone in "the media" will want to have Washington decision-makers determine their policies. Rare opportunity? Umm...my phone lines are usually open beginning at 5am. It seems strange to look to someone who you can "rarely reach" help you with your complaints about media consolidation. That might be because the FCC is so consolidated in Washington, eh? Folks...they don't call them Washington decision-makers for nothing...
The forum, which is free and open to the public, will feature panel discussions on how media concentration affects local news and information. The forum will also include an open microphone session for the public to offer testimony on media issues to Commissioners Adelstein and Copps. All testimony will be recorded and submitted to the FCC and Iowa’s elected officials.
Waddya wanna bet they pay less attention to the people in the audience than they do themselves? I'm guessing the "open microphone session" won't be so open, either. You'll likely have to submit your question and/or comments in advance to have them approved before you'll be allowed to say them into any microphone. Sort of like the call screener I use...
"People should come out and tell the commissioners what they would like to see changed,” said Trish Nelson of Iowans for Better Local Television. “How often do we get a chance to have a conversation with someone in a position to shape the media? This is an incredible opportunity for people to participate in something that could actually have an impact."
Umm...I have a suggestion. Call your local television or radio station. I'm telling you, we actually pay attention to what you say...unlike these Fed-types. They already know what they want to do and are Soooo unlikely to have even a mild interest in your views...like most elitists, they know what's best already. This is just a big commercial for it.

In my 15-odd years in broadcasting, I have yet to hear more than a disgruntled few who even care who owns their local station. The horrors of consolidation are overblown anyway...mostly made by disaffected ex-radio/tv people who couldn't hack it anymore. That's all a part of the self-esteem movement which tells people they're better than they actually are...get fired a few times, that will teach you to get better or get out. Again, the phrase - "have a conversation with someone in a position to shape the media" - is interesting, isn't it? This from people who normally abhor any government intervention of the press. First Amendment...look it up.
The Iowa City meeting is being organized by Free Press and the University of Iowa Lecture Committee in partnership with many local organizations, including Iowans for Better Local Television, FAIR!, Progressive Action for the Common Good, Iowa City Federation of Labor, SEIU Local 199, Johnson County Democracy for America, Iowa Civil Rights Commission, Iowa Civil Liberties Union, Linn County InterReligious Council, American Federation of Teachers Local 716, AFSCME Local 12, League of Rural Voters, Iowa City Gay Lesbian Bi-sexual Transvestite Pride Committee, Quad Cities Interfaith, Iowa City Public Access Television, Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Johnson County League of Women Voters and ICAN.
See? The meeting is sure to have plenty of balance and expressions of views...and plenty of time for you lowlife regular folk to have a crack at that "open microphone"...

I'm not going to bother linking to all those liberal websites. I don't see any like Accuracy In Media attending, though.
Along with a variety of local partners, Free Press is also organizing a series of workshops to help residents of Eastern Iowa prepare comments in advance of the forum. The workshops are scheduled to take place in: Cedar Rapids - Wednesday, Sept. 28 - 7 p.m. Community of Christ Church - 1500 Blairs Ferry Rd.
- Hiawatha, Iowa
See? They'll have plenty of time for you to have a crack at that "open microphone"...they trust you so much with your views that they're having a class on how to prepare them. Waddya wanna bet they'll have a whole mess of material for you to just cut and paste?

And people wonder why Air America is asking for donors to keep them on the air...

FAIR AND BALANCED POST

Too good to pass up today:

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying, "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sit stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

---

One more? Okay...

For the latest on Cindy Sheehan's arrest at the White House yesterday, click on Yahoo News...appropriately enough.

Friday, September 23, 2005

AIR AMERICA TOTE BAGS ARE "STYLIN"

Somehow, I knew it would come to this...

NEWS: AIR AMERICA RADIO is asking listeners for donations, an unusual move for a commercial broadcaster. The "AIR AMERICA ASSOCIATES" program is similar to public radio's pledge-drive offerings, with a $50. donation netting the donor three "I'm Building AIR AMERICA RADIO" bumper stickers and a $100. donation worth a tote bag. Donors of $250. or more will be thanked on the air and personally by hosts and staff. From the text of an e-mail sent to AAR listeners by the network's CEO DANNY GOLDBERG asking for donations:

Dear Air America Radio Listener,

When we launched the Air
America Radio network one year ago, the country was being talked to death by conservative zealots like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and others. Right Wing radio saturated every media market and every community a dominance of the airwaves that has been a huge part of what allowed the Right Wing to:

* Drag America into the Iraq war.
* Open up the Arctic National Refuge for oil drilling.
* Take over both houses of Congress.
* And, of course, win the 2004 Presidential election.

Rather than wait for the Right Wing to run out of breath, we launched Air
America Radio to give the country back its voice. Thanks to listeners like you, we have a presence on 70 stations covering 60% of U.S. media markets. Air America Radio currently offers 15 shows and runs 24 hours a day of entertaining but always enlightening programming.

To continue this great success story and start shaping the national debate the way that Right Wing talk radio does every day, we've got to reach into every community in this country. We know we can’t achieve this next stage of growth without significant help from you, our loyal listeners.

We’ve also been asked on many occasions by our listeners how they can help out. Today we are launching a new program called AIR
AMERICA ASSOCIATES that gives you the opportunity to do just that.

As an Air
America Associate, you are a member of a special group of listeners who support Air America Radio and are dedicated to building the Air America community. When you sign up, we will send you a packet of bumper stickers to remind you that your job as an Associate is to spread the word about Air America Radio to other progressives in your workplace, your family, and your neighborhood.

Also, as an Air
America Associate, you'll be kept informed of events in your area and receive a monthly Associates insider newsletter with backstage news from our shows and our headquarters. And in time, when we launch our paid services, as an Associate you will be eligible for special discounts for premium content.

Rush Limbaugh didn't take over our airwaves by himself he had an army of "dittoheads" behind him. We will never reach the same critical mass that he has without our listeners helping us as well. So, please become an Air
America Associate today by clicking here:

Thank you very much for your support,

Danny Goldberg
Air
America Radio CEO
Radio apparently isn't free anymore for these dorks. They're actually taking a cue from PBS and raising money from listeners this way...maybe they think it would be "unseemly" to raise money from ADVERTISERS. Of course, you have to have some in order to do that.

The funniest part? When you go to the solicitation website and sign up to be "an associate" you get this kind of language:

FREE! With your gift, receive three official Air America bumper stickers

ADDITIONAL FREE! With your gift of $100 or more, a stylin' yet functional tote bag

BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE! FREE with your gift of $250 or more, our hosts and staff will personally thank you at this level of giving on AirAmericaRadio.com and on the air
Only among these left-wing loons would a "gift" of 250-bucks entitle you to a FREE something or other. Sort of like our income taxes and welfare system...

Businesses apparently don't find it financially worthwile to have their name read over the AirAmericaRadiowaves (ahem...advertisers, I mean)...so why would an individual? Heck, I'd do it for free and I'm giving away $3000 every morning. Why don't they have listeners apply for jobs to be salespeople and go get some advertising? Oh, yeah...sorry...lost my head there for a second.

To be fair -
Air America's move is not unprecedented; religious broadcasters routinely ask for donations and on commercially-licensed stations, TED TURNER famously asked for viewers of WRET-TV/CHARLOTTE to send in donations to keep the station on the air, saving the station, which he later sold and is now NBC affiliate WCNC-TV.

Well...considering they are gainfully employed members of the broadcasting industry (ahem...comrades?), I wish them the best of luck. But if I were the folks working there, I'd start polishing up the resume...

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

ABU GRAIB, IOWA

State29 has a pretty darn funny post today regarding the urban deer hunt in Cedar Rapids that begins in October. In an article from the Waterloo Courier:

Scottie Diers, a new member of the Urban Deer Task Force, opposed the bowhunt in the 8-2 vote to allow it. She said at the group's meeting this month that she would be out banging pots and pans to scare deer away from hunters.

I swear, the protests against the deer hunt are really getting silly. But when you think about it, Scottie Diers might be causing just as much harm as a recent attendee of the City Council meeting that approved the hunt thinks.

I'll post the proof later today...

BADGES? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN BADGES...

The Des Moines Register had a particularly misleading story the other day about the matricula consular ID cards being issued to Hispanic residents of Iowa. The story goes to great pains to make sure they don't mention "illegal aliens"...instead, they are the more friendly "undocumented immigrants" and simply "immigrants". Here are some highlights:

Officials from the Mexican Consulate in
Omaha will visit Des Moines next month to issue identification cards to Mexican immigrants.

"An identification card is a good thing," said Ann Naffier , an immigration specialist with the American Friends Service Committee, which will host the event. "It helps you know who you're dealing with."


Unfortunately, we have no idea who they are in the first place. Then there's this lazy piece of journalism...dare I say, BIAS?

The Mexican government issues the matricula consular to its citizens living in the United States whether they are here legally or not. Immigrants can use the ID cards, which have been criticized by anti-immigration groups as flouting U.S. laws

In fact, it's not just "anti-immigration" groups who don't like the cards. It's our own FBI! Yes, the same group that the Register complains had we listened to, we could have prevented 9/11...that thank God for the whistleblowers there at the ole' FBI we now know that September 11th was a tragedy we could have avoided.

Besides, the groups aren't necessarily "anti-immigration"...they're anti-ILLEGAL-immigration. Why is it so difficult for the Register to understand the difference?

Don't take my word for it...here's the official testimony and information from the FBI website:

The U.S. Government has done an extensive amount of research on the Matricula Consular, to assess its viability as a reliable means of identification. The Department of Justice and the FBI have concluded that the Matricula Consular is not a reliable form of identification, due to the non-existence of any means of verifying the true identity of the card holder.

I can see how tough it is being a journalist. I could do this all day...spend time researching things and trying to understand an issue before putting it to paper (or blog)...but it's tiring. Besides, I have a radio show to do in about an hour and a half.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

NO RESULTS FOUND

This Sunday is a big day. For most of the major news networks and newspapers...it's the start of the NFL season. For fewer and fewer people, it's also another big day. It's September 11th. Remember that?

I mentioned it on the radio show and I was surprised at the results. 4 out of 10 instant callers said my mention of the date this Sunday caused them to remember. I reminded them of it...I was blown away.

Certainly not a scientific poll...so I went and did a search. I have found it very interesting that none of the major news networks or newspapers have had much to say about the upcoming 4-year anniversary. In fact, I found our local newspapers to be full of coverage of this weekend's Iowa/Iowa State football game...virtually every day since two weeks ago there have been stories about the quarterbacks on down to the guy who holds the football for fieldgoals. But ZERO coverage of September 11th observances and/or reminder news stories.

I've only received one piece of information about a local observance...in Independence, Iowa where the local fire fighters will be gathering to remember their fallen comrades in a service on Sunday night at 6:30pm.

I understand that the Hurricane Katrina coverage has taken a lot of our time these past two weeks...but throughout the millions and millions of websites, thousands of newspaper sites, hundreds of television and radio websites...I was shocked by the lack of even a mention of the anniversary. Here are my results...

First, I started with a Google search for the terms, "September 11 2005"...that yielded more than 12-thousand sites. Reading through many of the pages, very few of them were what I would call "legitimate" news sites and major newspapers. A lot of them were crack-pot right wingers and left wing loonies who use the date to bash George W Bush or cite some conspiracy theory that say "there were no planes that hit the Pentagon" or some such nonsense...

Then, I tried to narrow it down a little by searching Google for "September 11 observed." It sure narrowed down...to only 435 sites. One story was from the state run Cuban news agency for crying out loud. Another mentioned an observance in Bartelsville, Oklahoma...wherever that is. But of the major news outlets? One San Francisco Chronicle story about Hurricane Katrina and it being the first major test of Homeland Security “since September 11th”

In fact, I felt I needed to see for myself, so I chose the big ones: ABC, CBS, NBC (MSNbc), Fox News, and CNN. NONE of them had ANYTHING mentioning ANYTHING about September 11th on their home pages. So I did searches at each of them. Since they don't allow you to save the links to the searches you perform, you'll have to trust me on that one...

ABC News search gave me the title of this post…"no results found" in their news category and a handy reference list for those doing term papers about September 11th.

Almost the exact same list of web materials came up at CBS News.com

Nothing at MSNBC.com except a Newsweek link to a story about a memoir book coming out from one of the widows

CNN.com had a few links, but only to stories referencing the date…then in a separate sidebar, they had a video story dated on 9/6…about 4 minutes long, called “9/11 ‘everything changed’” It certainly has...

And the venerable Fox News? A member of the vast right wing conspiracy certainly would have something, right? Wrong…almost the exact same links as the other major networks.

Again, I have to believe that much of this lack of attention has to do with the Hurricane Katrina stuff...but you'd be hard-pressed to find much of anything about it in the major papers or anywhere else. Certainly less that you'd find if you put the words "Natalie Holloway" into a Google search. In fact, there's a new story about her just posted 9-hours ago as I'm writing this...
One saving grace - during my original search, I found a story about a new poll that says Americans remain deeply impacted by September 11th.

Oh, really? Who told you that?

WANT PROOF FOR DEER HUNTS?

I was a little puzzled this morning when I heard several of the comments from the Deer Task Force vote last night at the Cedar Rapids City Council meeting. The final vote was 4-to-1 in favor of allowing a special bowhunter permit to kill the infestation of deer in Cedar Rapids. Many claim there's "no evidence that these hunts work" and Commissioner Wade Wagner said he's seen no evidence that they work either. I hope they read the following and listen to the show.


Iowa DNR: Annual Deer Population Survey Underway
By Joe Wilkinson
Posted: Ferbruary 22, 2005

One more blanket of snow would help. Aerial deer surveys are just about done across Iowa. Another four to six inch snowfall, though, could be enough to let wildlife biologists wrap up those winter counts; a key element in the formula to track deer numbers in a state with red-hot interest in the whitetail's appetite, travel patterns and reproductive capacity.

The early word indicates a downturn in overall numbers. Still, debate extends from the Iowa Legislature to community task forces to informal coffee shop roundtables, as Iowans map out the best way to reduce crumpled fenders and nighttime raids on hosta beds, yet still enjoy our biggest 'big game.' Early this month, with about half the survey results returned, Department of Natural Resources biologist Willy Suchy noted a 12 percent downturn. That reflects the heavy emphasis on hunters to take more does during the fall and winter seasons. Most of the 84,000 extra antlerless deer tags available were sold out.

While the aerial surveys are an important element, though, there is more to the picture. "We also do a spring spotlighting survey. We look at deer-vehicle accident figures. We also review hunter survey cards to get all the harvest information," explains DNR wildlife biologist Tim Thompson. "After putting that together, we get an idea of the deer population; whether it's going up, down or if it is stable."

Several 'deer heavy' areas show a drop. In Allamakee and Winneshiek counties, surveyors saw a noticeable decrease in deer counted. In his five counties, Thompson is seeing all three trends. "Counts in (rural) Linn and Benton counties were down quite a bit. That followed a 14 inch snowfall, too; really good conditions for flying surveys," noted Thompson. "In Cedar and (rural) Johnson County, some areas were up; others were down." He points out that those flights were over three inches of snow; considered marginal conditions. With scarce snow cover, deer are hard to identify against the brown landscape. Objects like stumps and melted-through-to-the ground deer beds also resemble deer, as surveyors look down from 400 feet in the air, moving 80 miles an hour. Final figures for Cedar Rapids are not complete, yet. His crew has yet to fly Washington County.

For urban areas, that eye in the sky is often a helicopter; providing a closer, slower moving look at the landscape below. Iowa City-which pays sharpshooters to kill deer-and Coralville-which allows bow hunters to do likewise-are a focal point of the deer debate. Thompson outlined this winter's count at the Iowa City Deer Task Force meeting last Tuesday. The aerial tally showed 871 deer in 13 Iowa City/Coralville sectors. Lack of snow cover prevented a flyover last year. In 2003, the count was 1,026.

Thompson cautioned task force members that the figures are a one day 'snapshot;' not a hard total that is easily compared year to year. For instance, he points out that current development has dropped numbers in the formerly 'deer-dense' Peninsula area. On the other hand, deer numbers have jumped significantly in the wooded area south of the Oakdale Correctional Center, with no hunting allowed. "It indicates (communities) probably have to continue to do something every year," observed Thompson.

He also noted that Iowa City's sharpshooting program sometimes preceded and sometimes followed the winter counts. This month, for instance, sharpshooters killed 154 deer, shortly after the flyover. With another snowfall, Thompson hopes to re-fly the route, to see whether a corresponding drop appears.

Results from all the statewide surveys are being reviewed, as biologists make deer management recommendations. By April, the state's Natural Resource Commission reviews them, ahead of its season-setting decisions.

Deer By Numbers

Though statewide counts-estimates actually-are still a couple months away; most of the 28 special hunts across Iowa have deer harvest figures.

Bow hunters in Coralville killed 107 deer; 89 of them does. In Dubuque, the same number of does was harvested, out of about 100 total. In Johnson County's Kent Park, 37 deer were taken by shotgun or bow hunters. That doe/buck ratio is important. "The key to herd reduction is to reduce the number of female deer," notes DNR depredation biologist Greg Harris. "No male deer is ever going to have a fawn."

Of 154 antlerless deer targeted by sharpshooters in Iowa City, 97 were does. In Iowa, Iowa City has the only sharpshooting program-paying to have deer killed and processed.

Macbride, Palisades-Kepler Deer Meeting Seeks Public Comment

Faced with growing deer numbers within park boundaries, residents around two state parks will be asked for their input about the prospect of restricted deer hunts next season.

Park officials at Lake Macbride State Park, west of Solon and Palisades-Kepler State Park, west of Mount Vernon, will ask for public comment March 7, at 7 p.m. in the Solon Middle School auditorium, 313 South Iowa Street. The joint session is planned, since the parks are just a few miles apart.

Increased numbers of deer in the parks, documented through annual winter surveys have resulted in noticeable 'browse damage' in park vegetation. There currently is no hunting in Macbride's 2,180 acres nor in Palisades-Kepler's 840 acres.

Scoring Points With Antlers

Find out how your deer rack 'scores' by stopping by the DNR's Southeast District office, at Lake Darling State Park, March 2 or 3. District wildlife supervisor Don Pfeiffer will measure antlers from noon until 8 p.m. each day, or until the last antler is measured. Pfeiffer is a certified measurer for Iowa Trophy Deer, Pope and Young, Boone and Crockett and Longhunter Society. The service is free.

The district office is three miles west of Brighton, on Highway 1 and 78. Reserve a time by calling 319-694-2430. Otherwise measurements will be done first come, first served. Allow about 20 minutes for each set of antlers to be scored. The session corresponds with the waiting period to allow 'green' antlers, taken in the most recent Iowa seasons to 'dry.' Pfeiffer encourages antler owners, though, to bring in any old sets that might be around the house, also.

GREG COMMENT: It only took a quick Google search...wonder why they couldn't do in 5 years what I could do in the 10-minutes I spent posting this information?

State29 has had some really good posts on this topic too. They found the same info I did. Are there others who do actual research before they shoot their mouths off?

WANNA SAVE SOME MONEY ON GASOLINE?

I had a listener send me the following:

Greg,

I heard from a friend of mine that if you put acetone in your gas, you get better mileage. True?

Well...I check out all these email hoaxes and such and I found a very interesting website...apparently, it's true. 3-oz of 100% pure acetone in 10 gallons of gasoline will increase gas mileage by an average of 15-35% depending on your driving habits. So if you get 20mpg normally, you'll get 27mpg instead.

Here's the technical info: SmartGas.com

NEVER THOUGHT I'D SAY THIS

Wow...ABC News had a fairly good story about the "blame game" over Hurricane Katrina. It's actaully fair and balanced. Are they learning something over there with the passing of Peter Jennings? Or maybe it's the fact that up to 200 radio stations have dropped their news network in favor of the upstart Fox News Radio...

Nevertheless...it's a good piece today:

Who's to Blame for Delayed Response to Katrina?

New Orleans' Emergency Plan Not Followed, Federal Government Slow to Take Lead

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

I found the most stunning and eery article this morning while preparing for the program. It's a story from a television station in Little Rock, Arkansas. No, it doesn't have anything to do with Bill Clinton...but when you read it, it will amaze you as it did me...hindsight is 20/20, but this isn't the first time city and state officials in Louisiana have screwed up:

IVAN EXPOSES FLAWS IN LA. DISASTER PLANS - caution, it may not be available anymore (because this is a story from 2004!), but here's the text - highlighted for your enjoyment:

Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land.

New Orleans dodged the knockout punch many feard from the hurricane, but the storm exposed what some say are significant flaws in the Big Easy's civil disaster plans.

As Ivan charged through the Gulf of Mexico, more than a million people were urged to flee. Forecasters warned that a direct hit on the city could send torrents of Mississippi River backwash over the city's levees, creating a 20-foot-deep cesspool of human and industrial waste.

Residents with cars took to the highways. Others wondered what to do.

In this case, city officials first said they would provide no shelter, then agreed that the state-owned Louisiana Superdome would open to those with special medical needs. Only Wednesday afternoon, with Ivan just hours away, did the city open the 20-story-high domed stadium to the public. Mayor Ray Nagin's spokeswoman, Tanzie Jones, insisted that there was no reluctance at City Hall to open the Superdome, but said the evacuation was the top priority.

"Our main focus is to get the people out of the city," she said.

Callers to talk radio complained about the late decision to open up the dome, but the mayor said he would do nothing different.

"We did the compassionate thing by opening the shelter," Nagin said. "We wanted to make sure we didn't have a repeat performance of what happened before. We didn't want to see people cooped up in the Superdome for days."

When another dangerous hurricane, Georges, appeared headed for the city in 1998, the Superdome was opened as a shelter and an estimated 14,000 people poured in. But there were problems, including theft and vandalism.

This time far fewer took refuge from the storm - an estimated 1,100 - at the Superdome and there was far greater security: 300 National Guardsmen.

The main safety measure - getting people out of town - raised its own problems.

More than 1 million people tried to leave the city and surrounding suburbs on Tuesday, creating a traffic jam as bad as or worse than the evacuation that followed Georges. In the afternoon, state police took action, reversing inbound lanes on southeastern Louisiana interstates to provide more escape routes. Bottlenecks persisted, however.

Col. Henry Whitehorn, head of state police, said he believes his agency acted appropriately, but also acknowledged he never expected a seven-hour-long crawl for the 60 miles between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

It was so bad that some broadcasters were telling people to stay home, that they had missed their window of opportunity to leave. They claimed the interstates had turned into parking lots where trapped people could die in a storm surge.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Nagin both acknowledged the need to improve traffic flow and said state police should consider reversing highway lanes earlier. They also promised meetings with governments in neighboring localities and state transportation officials to improve evacuation plans.

But Blanco and other state officials stressed that, while irritating, the clogged escape routes got people out of the most vulnerable areas.

GREG ALAN COMMENT: Not this time, they didn't.

Monday, September 05, 2005

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW BAD IT IS OUT THERE

Spotted on a Democrat website blog...regarding the passing of Chief Justice William Rhenquist:

"How lucky can Bush get. Two nominations to the court in two months."

Sick, huh?

Friday, September 02, 2005

THIS IS HOW IT IS OUT THERE, FOLKS

I'm posting an email...a collection of correspondence, really. It's just a small sample of the anger and hostility that is brewing among the left. Totally incapable of engaging in actual debate, many have taken to the same kinds of things we see in Louisiana. I'll be working on collecting my thoughts a little better (right now it's a flicker of a theory I have) and will have something developed by next week on that topic...New Orleans...how could the looting, murder, shooting at helicopters trying to help those who are most desperate, raping, and the general chaos that is infesting that city? I'll give you a hint to what I'm on to - government dependence has been one of the primary causes of what's happening in New Orleans.

For now...a conversation with eddie (editing for the sake of family values with XXX's):

eddie writes:

"i tune in usually once a week for a couple minutes to see if you are still sayin how oil man w. is doing for the country.........im sure he or his buds are not making any $ off the people who cant afford $4 a gallon(it will go up..ask the villiage idiot you voted for)....i keep gigglin every time everyone (XX)tches about how things are going.....by the way...why are we over there(besides to try an fix the f(X)ck george sr. left)...hope it goes to 10$ gallon....and the ignorant can keep sayin what the hell is going on....."

Greg replies

"Thanks for your completely confusing and virtually unreadable email. Try and clean up the language a little, though. Keep listening...I appreciate it."

eddie comes back for more:

"you havent heard any cussin yet...wait till the gas price hits $5 a gallon and we hit the 2000 kids killed in iraq for no reason......and the people who support the idiot are just as gullible as he is,,,like some radio hosts who want to jump on the rush limbaugh bandwagon...."

Greg tries again to be nice:

"I'm sorry you believe that. Thanks again for your email."

eddie is sure he's on to something:

"tuned in for a minute on the way to work today...heard a limbaugh wannabe sayin he is sorry for his meltdown...not too professional....let me see...things are going to hell in the good ole usa......but we better concentrate and kill our kids overseas for what???...i kinda forgot .....dont we need em here right now?...wait till some of your relation is killed for a oil man....you will be bitter also...quit pushin the right"

Greg again is "understanding":

"You can keep listening, though. And make sure to tell all your friends about the show too. Glad to have you in the audience."

eddie goes for the jugular:

"good comeback....yeah..i agree...the truth is insulting......like most of the workin people who used to listen to wmt in the morning say....for gods sake...please bring tim boyle back....."

Finally, Greg gets a little more detailed:

"Sorry you're so upset. Hope you have a better weekend and improve your attitude a little. Ratings for the program and station have increased by 65-percent since Mr Boyle left the station. Tim did a fine job while he was here and he's a good associate of mine, but he doesn't want to do radio anymore...even if he were asked.

"Not tooting horns, though...because you never know what the next ratings period says, but of our listening audience the average income is 40K, the average age is 45 and it's 55-percent male...and 70-percent of the audience has one or more children and has a high school or higher diploma. Translation? Working people.

"So I suggest in the future - like I do a lot of people like you - come to the table with some facts and actual opinions other than simple insults and 3-rd grade mentality. We can have an intelligent conversation and good old fashioned debate...which I welcome. Your cause, which I respect, isn't served well by the likes of you or your approach. Convince me...don't insult me.
Until then, have a great Labor Day weekend. You've probably earned it. I have to work that day...like a lot of working people."

Don't expect me to post anymore from eddie. I tried the "liberal" approach...understanding, patience, complacency, and non-confrontational warm-fuzzies. Do you think it'll work with terrorists?

Maybe YOU can try...by sending him an email.

WRITE TO eddie - Be nice, now...