To Be Announced...

This story has made the rounds of the AP as far away as Richmond, Virginia.

No words needed, but it's a nice hanging curve ball for a guy like me...

Stink patrol searches for source of Iowa Capitol odor

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Something just doesn't smell right at the Capitol — but what is causing the stink remains a mystery.

Some staffers and lawmakers have complained about a sewage-like odor. In response, a team of private engineers and building maintenance crews is trying to root out the cause of the odor, which was first noticed in January.

What? No blue-ribbon commission? They usually have to go to committee and recommend appointing board members and give them investigative powers.

While it's strongest in the back of the House chamber, some have noticed it elsewhere — such as in a second-floor ladies' room, near the first-floor employee staircase and on the ground floor near the rotunda.

Hmmm. Ladies room. Who knew?

Some speculate the foul odor may have been there all along but was masked by the smell of grilled onions and hamburgers from the Capitol cafeteria.

And the after effects of hamburgers and grilled onions...at least in my experience.

"Yes, it does stink in here. I've complained a lot — to anybody who will listen,'' said Carol Lamb, clerk for House Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, who hasn't been bothered by the smell.

So have most constituents, but that hasn't gotten us anywhere either.

And this being so close to tax filing day...

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UPDATED BELOW

Good thing I got out of radio when I did...

CBS Fires Don Imus Over Racial Slur

(CBS/AP) CBS announced Thursday its decision to cease broadcasting the Imus in the Morning radio program, effective immediately, on a permanent basis.

Imus initially was suspended for two weeks for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week, but outrage continued to grow and advertisers bolted from his programs.

Earlier Thursday, Imus had raised nearly $1 million in the first five hours of his annual radio charity fundraiser.

"This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," Imus said at the start of the event, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990.

Imus acknowledged again that his remarks a week ago about the Rutgers women's basketball team had been "really stupid."

"There's a difference between premeditated murder and the gun going off," but the end result is the same, he said: "Somebody's still dead."

Several major advertisers had dropped the show, and pressure from politicians and the public had mounted since the radio host referred to the Rutgers basketball players as "nappy-headed hos" shortly after they lost the NCAA women's national championship game.

He'll go to satellite radio, I'm sure. I never cared much for Imus, but this is really stupid. I suppose those radio stations that play Ludacris should stop soon, right?


And he's scheduled to play in the big Al Gore All-Star Live Earth concerts in July.

Meantime, I guess it's okay to re-print what Don Imus said...just don't speak it on the radio.

Disc Jockey Fired For Having Callers Imitate Imus

(CBS/AP) STROUDSBURG, PA A radio station fired its longtime morning DJ Wednesday after he encouraged listeners to repeat talk-show host Don Imus' racially charged comments in an on-air contest.

Three of the listeners who called were awarded tickets to a NASCAR promotion at a local club.

Station management reviewed a tape of the broadcast of the "Gary in the Morning" show and fired [the host]...

"[he] was fired and not suspended because he uttered the slur in a premeditated manner, "with full knowledge of the reaction to Don Imus' use of the exact same phrase."

Remember what I said about the left-wing Gestapo.

UPDATE

C. Vivian Stringer is making too much of it too. As Jason Witlock of the Kansas City Star points out:

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had. Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season.

...While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

See the above Ludacris link

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I actually grew dizzy last night while reading the local paper. In it, the CR Gazette had me sitting with pencil and paper "cipherin'" the latest global warming claptrap...

Because it's the on-line version, I can only re-post the bit that had me working harder than I usually work at the crossword puzzle trying to figure out:

Earth gets another special day; climate is its focus
By Cindy Hadish
The Gazette, April 11 2007

A new event this month to recognize the environment should not push aside Earth Day and Arbor Day, environmentalists say.

Author Bill McKibben’s call to designate Saturday as National Day of Climate Action was intended to put a spotlight on global warming, said Jon Warnow, one of the organizers of Step It Up, a Vermont-based national campaign to recognize the climate action day.

Okay...so they want to have another day of people standing in parks (littering) listening to amplified (by electricity) speeches urging some kind of action.

Given the news that both Mars (NASA reported also) and Jupiter are warming too, I don't know if they plan any action on those planets. They certainly sound like they're from there, though. Here's where my confusion and dizzy spell began:

(CAUTION! You may need a glass of water to splash on yourself later!)

United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this month detailed potential effects of global warming, if reliance on coal and oil continues its pace.

With 1 degree of warming, the Earth will experience more wildfires, coral bleaching, flooding and storm damage.

EEK! Scary stuff (like any other year).

More than 5 degrees will result in up to 3.2 billion people facing water shortages...

Wait...ummm. With 1-degree we get flooding and storm damage (like any other year). With 5 degrees we get water shortages (like any other year).

20 percent of the global population affected by flooding and more heat waves in some cities, the report predicted.

But I thought you just said we would get water shortages (like any other year)...so flooding too? How can you get flooding AND water shortages (like any other year)? And more heat waves in some cities? Which ones? After the extreme cold so far this spring, I could use a heat wave! Dizzy yet?

The Union of Concerned Scientists and Ecological Society of America spelled out how global warming will affect Iowa. The report states precipitation likely will increase in winter and spring by up to 30 percent and decrease in summer by 10 percent to 35 percent.

So...flooding in the spring (like any other year) and decreases in the summer. With flooding and water shortages. Got that?

Summer rain likely will be intense downpours.

Okay...so back to intense water downpours in the summer (like any other year). With flooding, water shortages, and...waitaminute...I have to scroll back up again...

Can I just get some of that intense downpour right now? On my face? I'm feeling dizzy again.

By the way...in case you think I parsed the story too conveniently, here's the entire section of the story that had me so confused...unedited:

United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this month detailed potential effects of global warming, if reliance on coal and oil continues its pace.

With 1 degree of warming, the Earth will experience more wildfires, coral bleaching, flooding and storm damage. More than 5 degrees will result in up to 3.2 billion people facing water shortages, 20 percent of the global population affected by flooding and more heat waves in some cities, the report predicted.

The Union of Concerned Scientists and Ecological Society of America spelled out how global warming will affect Iowa. The report states precipitation likely will increase in winter and spring by up to 30 percent and decrease in summer by 10 percent to 35 percent. Summer rain likely will be intense downpours.

Maybe we can get our local TV weather guys to have the same type of forecasts every day...that way, no matter what happens they'll never be wrong:

Sunshine and clouds today, with rain and snow possible. A high temperature of 10-to-90 degrees. A low tonight of 10-to-90 degrees. Give or take...

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Labels: global warming

Yes, our own Hollywood has been very slow to create good old-fashioned war hero movies...especially those many stories they could be telling from Iraq. Instead, we get Syrianna, Three Kings, and the more recent Jarhead.

While there have also been some pretty good ones based on the war on terror like United 93 and World Trade Center, I've been surpised that Hollywood hasn't found a new Meg Ryan type hero to make a movie out of like they did with Courage Under Fire (even though that one was still sort of anti-military).

If the problems at the BBC are any indication, I guess we know why...

Hero's tale is 'too positive' for the BBC

Amid the deaths and the grim daily struggle bravely borne by Britain's forces in southern Iraq, one tale of heroism stands out.

Private Johnson Beharry's courage in rescuing an ambushed foot patrol then, in a second act, saving his vehicle's crew despite his own terrible injuries earned him a Victoria Cross.

For the BBC, however, his story is "too positive" about the conflict.

The corporation has cancelled the commission for a 90-minute drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq.

Whew. There's a lot to be angry about in that story. Maybe the Brits are as afraid of the left-wing goons as much as they are the Iranians.

Even an insider quoted in the story can't be named for fear of having a flag burned on his lawn, I guess...

"The BBC has behaved in a cowardly fashion by pulling the plug on the project altogether," said a source close to the project. "It began to have second thoughts last year as the war in Iraq deteriorated. It felt it couldn't show anything with a degree of positivity about the conflict.

Left-wingers are slowly becoming the new Gestapo.

Whoops! If I were still in radio, would saying that get me fired these days?

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For those of you that switched to satellite during the Sinclair/Mediacom dustup, I hope you're enjoying the 10-dollar a month rebate. Democrats in the Iowa house, though, want to make things more fair and competitive between cable and satellite.

Which in Orwellian Newspeak, means raising taxes.

Bill would add 5 percent to satellite television bills

Lawmakers are considering a 5 percent "equalization tax" on satellite bills, which would be similar to the 5 percent franchise fee currently added to the bills of many cable customers.

The tax would cost Iowa's estimated 200,000 families that use satellites an extra $2.5 million to $3 million each year, according to information from the Iowa Cable and Telecommunications Association.

Satellite users, such as customers of DirecTV, for years have avoided paying the franchise fee, which has traditionally been viewed as payment to use city-owned rights of way to lay cable lines.

I guess they have to call it an "equalization tax" because nobody in their right minds believes that a small dish on the roof of your house is in any way using "city-owned rights of way"...

There are no poles, lines, streets, cables...or any other possible difficulty posed to cities for putting a dish on your own property and using your own supply of electricity to run it. Hmmm.

Still...raising taxes is usually the fairest thing to do since all those people switched to satellite and are no longer paying the franchise taxes that cities impose on land-based cable companies.

You see, the guvmint wants to "wet their beak" a little.

Des Moines, for example, collected more than $1.7 million from the fees in 2002. Last year, the city collected roughly $400,000 less.

Advocates, however, say the tax would create more fair competition. Franchise fees put cable companies at a disadvantage, they say.

"It is not a new tax," said Tom Graves, a lobbyist for the Iowa Cable and Telecommunications Association, which works closely with Mediacom and other cable providers in the state. "It will bring taxes back that have gone away from cities."

Democrats have a mandate, you see...

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Labels: mediacom

Sorry for the delay. After the Easter holiday (daughter birthday) hoopla...I watched the Masters and did taxes. A roller-coaster of emotions...lemme tell you.

Anyway...short post today. I'm trying to conserve cyberspace and the carbon footprint that my internet usage has in light of all this global warming.

Those of you expecting former UofI coach C. Vivian Stringer to continue with her speech about "Reaching for Your Highest Potential" during the women's conference...don't. There are more important things for her to do instead of trying to inspire women to be better at all they can be...

Stringer cancels Iowa speech after Imus flap

Coralville, Ia. -- Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer has pulled out of a speaking engagement Friday in Coralville because of the controversy following radio host Don Imus's comments about her team.

Conference coordinators said they learned today that Stringer would not be able to participate in the conference because of the Imus flap.

Starting Monday, Imus will be suspended for two weeks for calling the Rutgers players "nappy-headed hos" a day after the team lost the national championship game to Tennessee on April 3.

Stringer and Rutgers players spoke out Tuesday about the "racist and sexist" remarks, which have caused many people to call for Imus's dismissal. Team members have said they will meet with Imus.

Too busy being offended by a radio host of minimum consequence on a minimum consequence network that doesn't even have an affiliate in Iowa.

Cancelled a speaking engagement for what? What could she possibly be doing instead? If Imus is suspended for 2-weeks, that gives her plenty of time to meet with him AFTER her inspiring speech, doesn't it?

Oh, waitaminnut...KMNS in Sioux City is listed as affiliate but I can't confirm that from their crappy website.

So, if you're still pining for something interesting...

Tickets Still Available For Carter Speech

Tickets are still available for former President Jimmy Carter’s speech at the University of Iowa April 18 in Carver Hawkeye Arena. Seating in the arena is near capacity, but some good seats are still avail-able for students, faculty, staff and the general public.

Carter’s speech, which will focus on his new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" and issues in the Middle East, is being presented by the UI Lecture Committee. Doors will open at 5 p.m., with the speech beginning at 7 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required and may be obtained only from the University Box Office in the Iowa Memorial Union between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week.

In an interview with Newsweek, Carter said he wants “to provoke discussion, which is very rarely heard in this country.”

At the same time, Carter thinks that he is being silenced by shadowy forces. He makes this bizarre claim: “My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment.”

Does Carter keep track of which schools have lots of Jews? And who does he think is keeping him from speaking at them?

Typical for him lately. He blames the Jews for forcing those Hamas and Hezbollah folks to blow themselves up near crowds, too.

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There was no edition of the newsletter this week, it's my daughter's 4-th birthday and Easter weekend.

In the meantime, I rounded up some interesting Easter Egg stories for you:

The Detroit News has an editorial today titled: Are they !#$!ing idiots?

This alone should make you weep...

Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, [Michigan] House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

What's in your Easter basket?

And The American Thinker lives up to its name. You know those compact flourescent bulbs everyone is encouraging you to buy to "save" energy? Did you know that not a single one of them is made in the US?

Also,

CFLs contain mercury. You didn't know that? Just a drop you say? How about up to 5 milligrams per lightbulb. If all 4 billion incandescent sockets were filled with CFLs we'd have 20 billion milligrams of mercury spread around every single US household. By the way, 20 billion milligrams is nearly 50,000 pounds.

That 50,000 pounds of mercury amongst 300 million people, if indiscriminately thrown away, will eventually find its way to your favorite landfill and public drinking water supply. Knock over a table lamp and shatter a CFL in your house, and you have a toxic waste situation on your hands right in the living room, bedroom or dining room.

See the entire article: Ban the Bulb?

Have a happy Easter.

John 3:16

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A bunch of global warming stuff today in the news with USA Today and our own Des Moines Register leading the charge with an editorial and a guest opinion piece.

The Register editorial today: National plan needed on climate change

As a new installment of a United Nations report on global warming is released, sentiment for U.S. action moved to a new level this week following a U.S. Supreme Court decision on greenhouse-gas regulations.

The question no longer is whether government and industry will act, but what form the regulations will take and where they will be written. For now, the states are taking the lead, but eventually the president and Congress must step up to the plate with a national global-warming strategy that is part of a global solution.

As that new installment is being prepared, it doesn't seem like the "consensus" on global warming is going well according to the USA Today story:

USA Today: Scientists, governments clash as report reveals dangers of climate change

BRUSSELS — After a marathon session that saw angry exchanges between diplomats and scientists, an international global warming conference approved a major report on climate change Friday.

"We have an approved accord. It has been a complex exercise," conference chairman Rajendra Pachauri told reporters after an all-night meeting.

Several scientists objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators, the Associated Press reported, but in the end agreed to compromises. However, some scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vowed never to take part in the process again, the AP reported.

By the way, I love the chart included in the story. Take a look...

Looked at only briefly (like most things in the newspaper), the chart seems fairly dramatic.

"Holy moly! Look at how hot it's getting!"

Unlike a lot of people, I looked at the numbers along the bottom and left hand side of the chart. It only shows an increase of 1.2 degrees—over the last 150 years.

A chart of my income over the last 20-years would probably show the same kind of dramatic spikes and dips.

And “accurate measurements began” in 1860? Really? They could accurately measure the temperature around the globe in 1860?

We can barely do that today...so pardon my unscientific skepticism that we had super accurate thermometers placed in key areas around the world that could measure within a tenth of a degree.

And then there is the opinion piece by current Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie...a well-noted global climate engineer.

Action needed today to cut global-warming impacts

By 2100, Iowa's summer climate would generally be more like that of current northwest Mississippi. Seasonal precipitation would increase in winter and spring by as much as 30 percent and decrease in summer by 10 percent to 35 percent. The number of days in Iowa above 90 degrees is projected to at least double, and heat waves could occur 15 to 25 times a year by the end of this century.

Good...that would mean a longer time and better conditions in which to grow more ethanol-producing corn, right?

Ironically, Mayor Cownie co-authors the piece with a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists who are on record as opposing anything other than "organic" farming methods - which in my unscientific opinion, could lead to mass starvation and lower yields. Formed as a protest of the VietNam war (another highly scientific pursuit), they are currently leading the charge against bio-engineered farming techniques.

Read more about the UCS at ActivistCash.com.

Meanwhile, bundle up. That global warming is cold today.

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Labels: global warming

Call me suspicious and skeptical, but this looks more like a music video audition than a search for a missing student. I could be wrong...and I hope I am...nevertheless, here's the link:

Parents Turn To YouTube In Search For Son

CHICAGO -- The parents of Paul Shuman-Moore, 19, who disappeared from Grinnell College in central Iowa on Sept. 15, 2006, announced Friday they will try and locate their son via YouTube videos.

After Paul's disappearance - which included a suicide note - numerous state and local agencies and volunteers spent several days looking for Paul's body by airplanes, dogs, horses and all terrain vehicles. Unofficial searches continued throughout the fall of 2006 by farmers clearing their fields and hunters walking through difficult terrain, but no body was ever found, according to a family release.

In hopes of finding Paul, the family placed a video on YouTube Friday that focuses on Paul's musical interests. The video contains an interview with members of Paul's band, footage of a concert the band performed at Northside Prep High School in 2005 and pictures of Paul, the release said.

Here's the video:



Anyone with information about call should call Grinnell police at 641-236-2650, Belmont Area Special Victims Unit at 312-744-8266 or his parents at 312-607-5025.

Here's hoping Good Friday lives up to it's name...

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