iowa underground blog

The cynic in me spotted this item:

The GOP-controlled House passed legislation late Wednesday requiring people to show identification before voting, an issue strongly opposed by Democrats. House File 2597, approved 51-48, moves to the Senate, where it will probably face opposition.

This is some classic electioneering strategy, not a serious attempt to pass this type of legislation. Simlar to last year’s “Let us debate the death penalty!” outcry, the legislators fully know that the bills proposed at this point in the year have zero possibility of ever making it past the “funnel” date, when bills that have not met certain criteria are tabled for the rest of the session.

This time, the House GOP leaders are working the “prevent voter fraud” angle (odd that they never speak about voting machines) by passing a bill that would need to make it out of Senate committee before Friday. Here’s the rub: according to WOI, the committee that would debate this bill has no scheduled meetings for the rest of the week – thus, it won’t have a chance to pass the funnel.

Of course, this will be a base-pandering bill – for all of those that believe Absentee Voting is ‘cheating’ because the wrong side wins, etc., etc. It just needs to be pointed out that this is nothing more than electioneering, not a serious attempt at governance.

• Sousy

One of Iowa’s own has done us proud.

She begins thusly…

Bruce Bartlett, The Cato Institute, Andrew Sullivan, George Packer, William F. Buckley, Sandra Day O’Connor, Republican voters in Indiana and all the rest of you newly-minted dissenters from Bush’s faith-based reality seem, right now, to be glorying in your outrage, which is always a pleasure and feels, at the time, as if it is having an effect, but those of us who have been anti-Bush from day 1 (defined as the day after the stolen 2000 election) have a few pointers for you that should make your transition more realistic.

and continues her evisceration of the conservative culture of corruption and hypocrisy in her blog entry at The Huffington Post here.

Another quickie excerpt:

President Bush is your creation. When the US Supreme Court humiliated itself in 2000 by handing the presidency to Bush even though two of the justices (Scalia and Thomas) had open conflicts of interest, you did not object. When the Bush administration adopted an “Anything but Clinton” policy that resulted in ignoring and dismissing all warnings of possible terrorist attacks on US soil, you went along with and made excuses for Bush. When the Bush administration allowed the corrupt Enron corporation to swindle California ratepayers and taxpayers in a last ditch effort to balance their books in 2001, you laughed at the Californians and ignored the links between Enron and the administration. When it was evident that the evidence for the war in Iraq was cooked and that State Department experts on the Middle East were not behind the war and so it was going to be run as an exercise in incompetence, you continued to attack those who were against the war in vicious terms and to defend policies that simply could not work. On intelligent design, global warming, doctoring of scientific results to reflect ideology, corporate tax giveaways, the K Street project, the illegal redistricting of Texas, torture at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, the Terry Schiavo fiasco, and the cronyism that led to the destruction of New Orleans you have failed to speak out with integrity or honesty, preferring power to truth at every turn. Bush does what he wants because you have let him.

• tristero

Thanks to Charlie Wishman for pointing out a letter from State Senator Dennis Black. A little reminder for Chris Rants:

This language in House File 2627 was extensively debated during the extraordinary legislative session of 2002. In the Senate, many spoke on the proposed bill, me included. The bill had earlier passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 52 AYE and 44 NAY. The House vote was absolutely party line, with Republicans in support of video lottery and Democrats in opposition. Representative Bell voted against the creation of the video lottery program.

The vote on the TouchPlay legislation passed the Senate with 26 AYE and 22 NAY, with three Republicans joining me and my Democratic colleagues in opposing what we viewed as “a law that will come back to haunt us.””

I’d like to point out one thing to Charlie, however – HF2627 is the bill from the current session. It would be nice to know which bill was debated in 2002 (and what the roll call vote was) in support of TouchPlay – and the lobbyist filings as well. (i.e. I’d like to see the 2002 bill and information on the Legislative Bill Book. HF2627 and filings are available to the public, but I don’t know where to start looking for the 2002 version…

• Sousy

I was forced to think a bit about making a purchase recently, after obtaining a very nice handmade journal from our own TH1974.

When I looked at the pristine acid-free paper, then looked at my collection of old ballpoints and throwaway pens I thought it was time to find a nicer pen to write with. The first thing that came to my mind was that old Iowa standby – The Sheaffer Pen Co. of Fort Madison, IA. I have to admit that I had not followed any news relating to the company – the newspapers in Northern and Central Iowa do not cover the Fort Madison business news very often.

In particular, the Bic corporation (the maker of the cheapo ballpoint in that cup on my desk) purchased the company with the idea of absorbing the respected brand name. As these things go, that purchase also involves shuttering the historic Sheaffer manufacturing facility two years short of its 100th anniversary. The Burlington Hawkeye reported in January that Bic is unable to complete the merger as scheduled, so the facility may remain open for another two years.

Plans remain in place to shut down most of Sheaffer Pen in May, however company officials said Tuesday negotiations are under way to maintain some operations and parent company Bic USA may not shutter the plant completely for another two years.

Bic told workers two years ago that it intended to close the pen-making plant when a labor contract extension affecting 120 employees expires this May.

But spokeswoman Jill Klimack said Tuesday that certain operations, including Sheaffer’s fountain pen point assembly department, its product development, customer service, purchasing, service and repair, information technology, warehousing and distribution operations, packaging and quality control will remain open for an unspecified time after May.

Currently, about 100 union and non-union employees still work in Fort Madison where jeweler W.A. Sheaffer opened a plant in 1908 after patenting a self-filling fountain pen.

(This via the Burlington Hawkeye archives.

I thought it might be a good time to buy a little piece of history before it’s gone for good. I’ll be doing a little looking – after getting suckered into picking up an unbeknownst-to-me ‘outsourced’ product. I wrote to Sheaffer customer service to find out which pen lines are being produced in Ft. Madison. I didn’t get much of a reply – a generic “Made in the USA” rather than “Made in Ft. Madison” comment:

Dear Mr. ___,

Currently all our White Dot items such as Legacy, Prelude and Agio are
all made in the USA. In regards to any low end items, they are out
sourced.

Sincerely,

Sheaffer Pen Consumer Affairs

A bit of trivia: Iowa’s governors have specifically used Sheaffer pens to sign bills into law – making a few of the pens keepsakes for organizations that worked to secure passage of a law – in this case, the rather surprising connection( ) between the Elks Lodge and beer:

On September 7, 1933, Senator Frailey presented the Lodge with the pen Iowa Governor Herring used to sign “the beer bill” into law. The W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company encased the pen in glass, and attached a bronze engraved plaque describing its significance. This pen still hangs in our Secretary’s office.

A history of Sheaffer Pen is available here, with a thanks to Iowa Bacon, who’s obviously paid a bit closer attention than I have.

As an addendum, and knowing that most people that write (or read) blogs often do a little writing here and there, I asked on the forum “What Do You Write With?”. It’s too bad that we’ll have to dive into the vintage market to find a classic Ft. Madison Sheaffer Pen.

• Sousy

noneed4thneed, creator of the Iowa For Feingold blog and occasional contributor to this site, has a new venture called Century of the Common Iowan – where he’ll be able to wax poetic on subjects other than Russ. Check it out!

Thanks to TH1974 for first bringing this story to my attention here.

The guy with the Sinatra karaoke side ‘career’ also likes parroting the propaganda of Wal-Mart and passing it off as his own.

You can read the NYT story here.

A few excerpts follow:

Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in P.R. Campaign

Brian Pickrell, a blogger, recently posted a note on his Web site attacking state legislation that would force Wal-Mart Stores to spend more on employee health insurance. “All across the country, newspaper editorial boards — no great friends of business — are ripping the bills,” he wrote.

It was the kind of pro-Wal-Mart comment the giant retailer might write itself. And, in fact, it did.

Several sentences in Mr. Pickrell’s Jan. 20 posting — and others from different days — are identical to those written by an employee at one of Wal-Mart’s public relations firms and distributed by e-mail to bloggers.

Did you know Wal-Mart is more selective than Harvard? It’s true!

Mr. Pickrell, the 37-year-old who runs the Iowa Voice blog, said he began receiving updates from Wal-Mart in January. Like Mr. Beller, of Crazy Politico, Mr. Pickrell had criticized the Maryland legislature over its health care law before Wal-Mart contacted him.

Since then, he has written at least three postings that contain language identical to sentences in e-mail from Mr. Manson. In one, which Mr. Pickrell attributed to a “reader,” he reported that Wal-Mart was about to announce that a store in Illinois received 25,000 applications for 325 jobs. “That’s a 1.3 percent acceptance rate,” the message read. “Consider this: Harvard University (undergraduate) accepts 11 percent of applicants. The Navy Seals accept 5 percent of applicants.”

Asked in a telephone interview about the resemblance of his postings to Mr. Manson’s, Mr. Pickrell said: “I probably cut and paste a little bit and I should not have,” adding that “I try to write my posting in my own words.”

Let’s hope this guy doesn’t truly represent the voice of Iowa:

Mr. Pickrell, explaining his support for Wal-Mart, said he shops there regularly and is impressed with how his mother-in-law, a Wal-Mart employee, is treated. “They go real out of their way for their people,” he said.

If he does, it will be many years before the world stops laughing at us.

You can read more on how Wal-Mart goes ‘real out of their way for their people’ at Wal-Mart Watch.

• tristero

The Des Moines Register published an article on the latest proposal by the Bush Administration to pull back environmental restrictions on ethanol plants – but is it really necessary?

The ethanol industry argues that the government needs to ease air-pollution rules so bigger plants can be built to meet the soaring demand for the fuel additive.

But the existing rules — which the Bush administration wants to ease — haven’t stopped at least one Iowa plant from moving forward with a major expansion plan.

Golden Grain Energy, a farmer-controlled plant at Mason City, expects to get a federal permit in time to start construction next month on its $43 million expansion project. The bigger plant could produce 150 million gallons of ethanol per year, which would make it one of Iowa’s largest facilities.

Because of the pollution rules, Golden Grain has had to buy a $40,000 street sweeper to control dust around the outside of the plant – dust counts as a pollutant. It has also spent $45,000 on the outside experts needed to handle the application process.

“The industry is already growing at an alarmingly fast pace without (the rule change),” said Walter Wendland, president and chief executive officer of Golden Grain. “Do I feel the industry needs this to grow? Absolutely not.”

Wendland agrees with the reasoning behind the rule change, but he worries that it will encourage the shift toward larger plants that are controlled by outside investors rather than farmers. Concerns over ownership of ethanol plants grew last month when an Australian company sought to buy control of a farmer-owned plant in Lakota, Ia.

Mr. Wendland is exactly correct: the only people clamoring for this type of deregulation are the people that will live nowhere near the ethanol plants they own. (We’ve seen this in terms of hog lots, cattle feedlots, etc. – when does it stop?)

• Sousy

What leads people to believe this kind of nonsense?

The press had better hope we win this war, because if we don’t, a lot of people will blame the media.

• Sousy

Forgive me, but when entrepreneurial theocratic fascists deigning to speak on behalf of God™ lose a round, it’s my obligation to take notice and gloat a little. From The Houston Chronicle comes this glorious tidbit straight from Heaven™:

Robertson Loses Broadcasters’ Board Seat

© 2006 The Associated Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, criticized by some evangelicals for comments about Venezuela’s president and Israel’s prime minister, lost a bid for re-election to the National Religious Broadcasters’ board of directors.

Robertson, founder of the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network, was one of 38 candidates for 33 board seats during the NRB’s recent convention. The group represents mostly evangelical radio and TV broadcasters.

NRB President Frank Wright said there was no broad effort to distance the group from Robertson. But “there was broad dismay with some of Pat’s comments and a feeling they were not helpful to Christian broadcasters in general,” he said in Wednesday’s Washington Post.

In the past few months, Robertson suggested that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez should be assassinated and that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine punishment for pulling out of the Gaza Strip.

Ouch, Pat! 33 board seats, only 38 candidates – and you couldn’t make the cut. That’s gotta hurt.

Far be it from me to be an optimist at this early juncture, but if the past few weeks are any indication of where this country is heading – it almost feels as if it’s atleast begun the process of waking up from it’s 6 year dalliance w/ BushCo. and its associated tendrils’ neverending stream of bullshit. It’s possible we’ve just been travelling through a brief rip in the fabric of the space-time continuum, however – where rationality and sanity are still valued – so I’ll reserve any semblance of true celebration until November of this year.

Wikipedia has the skinny on his holiness here.

Find a restroom, wouldya Marion?
Kthx.

• tristero

The Washington Post reports today on a bill set to pass the House (with 226 co-sponsors) that would take away the abilty of states to pass legislation effecting food safety.

A bill poised to pass the House tomorrow would impose uniform safety warnings and labeling rules on food and beverages nationwide—a significant change from current practices that the food industry argues will help consumers but many state agriculture and health officials fear will significantly reduce their ability to protect the public.

The bill, which has 226 co-sponsors in the House, would amend the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to supersede existing state legislation and practices on food-warning labels. It would also require states to petition the Food and Drug Administration to restore laws and regulations they currently have.

Some of the state laws that could be affected cover farm and food plant inspections, whereas others involve rules on shellfish, dairy products, allowable levels of arsenic and other contaminants in bottled water, lead in food and serving dishes, and whether salmon has to be labeled as wild or farmed. Numerous states have food-safety laws that are considerably tougher than federal standards.
....
The legislation has never been aired in a public hearing. But with a majority of members as co-sponsors, supporters said they expect the bill will pass tomorrow.

If we ever needed proof that the GOP-run House is a rubber stamp for lobbying firms, this is it. Similar to local control issues in Iowa, this ruling will centralize food safety regulation in a centralized – and diluted – manner.

• Sousy