Letter of the Month

and finally, we get the best of the bunch.

If the statistics Rekha Basu uses in her Jan. 8 column about gay marriage are accurate (43 percent of first marriages end in 15 years), perhaps the biggest threat to traditional heterosexual marriage is traditional heterosexual marriage ("Gay Marriage: Prove It Hurts").

—Larry Claus, Des Moines.

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Letter Of The Day

I'll at least give Des Moines Police Chief William McCarthy points for persistence and creativity with his perpetual request for $1.4 million to fight local terrorism ("Central Iowa Unprepared for Terror, Police Chief Says," Jan. 16). It is unique in one way. Instead of your tax dollars going to Washington first and being laundered through the Homeland Security Department, the chief wants to take the money directly from local residents' pockets. I suppose that is more efficient.

McCarthy claims he is not politicizing the issue. Oh, really? While we all sympathize with the tragic loss of his brother, which we hear about every time this request comes up, he now adds an unsubstantiated claim that Timothy McVeigh targeted Des Moines. How could he possibly politicize the issue more?

Des Moines City Councilwoman Christine Hensley needs to be reminded that she is spending other people's money. The metro area has lots of competing priorities, and there is an old concept, forgotten by many politicians today, about living within a budget.

McCarthy has previously stated the biggest problem in Iowa is drugs. The U.S. attorney general has stated that the biggest problem in the United States is pornography. Where does the war on terrorism fit? It's becoming a euphemism for incrementally curtailing individual constitutional rights and liberties, turning this country into a police state and starting wars of choice.

—Mike Burgher, Urbandale.

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Quote of the Month

"So I have a question for my colleagues in the news media: Why isn't the decision by the White House to stonewall on the largest corruption scandal since Warren Harding considered major news?"
--Paul Krugman

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Letter Of The Day

As the drums of war continue to beat in regard to Iranian nuclear capability, there are some glaring omissions in disclosure by the administration — namely that Iran has mutual defense treaties signed with both Russia and China. If we launch a pre-emptive attack on Iran, can we be certain that Russia, with its advanced nuclear arsenal, will remain neutral or will it honor its treaty?

If we use tactical nukes, as extolled by Dick Cheney, will Russia respond in kind? Will energy-starved China, and its 1.6 billion people, see a U.S. attack on Iran as an attack on its national security? China has huge natural gas and oil contracts with Iran, and we seem incapable of handling the 26 million people in Iraq.

It's been said that if the only tool you have is a hammer, you will tend to see every problem as a nail. Maybe this is a problem of perception, and President Bush sees his only tool to be the military. That would make every problem a war just waiting to happen. It seems like a good time for cooler heads to prevail. Let's hope we find some, and soon.

-Larry Wohlgemuth, Ankeny.

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today's MUST READ column of the day

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/OPINION01/601200340/1035/OPINION

is it live or is it memorex?

CAIRO, Egypt -- If that is really Osama bin Laden on an audiotape aired Thursday, the Bush administration says it rejects the offer of a truce in the war on terror.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business," said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellen.

Al-Jazeera TV is carrying an audiotape from a man identified as Osama bin Laden voicing threats that more attacks on the United States are in the works. But it also included a truce offer to allow time to "build Iraq and Afghanistan."

McClellan said President George W. Bush has been briefed on the audio tape, and U.S. intelligence is now analyzing it to see if it's genuine. But he said it's clear al-Qaida's leaders are under pressure and on the run.

He said terrorists may have started the war, but, "We will end it at a time and place of our choosing."

The man claiming to be bin Laden said that United States security measures aren't the reason there haven't been more attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. Instead, he said the delay is "because there are operations that need preparations, and you will see them."

--source

well, if it is indeed osama, and he's planning new attacks on us, the the incompetent bushites must be running around in circles trying to figure out what to do next. who knows. i doubt it's a fake tho. the added truce thing surprised me.

thread of the day

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2006/01/19/opinion/doc43cdd06f8d292364616512.txt#blogcomments

kudos to the golden globes

it was a gay ol' time in hollywood tuesday. and the christian (sp?) self-righteous extremist groups are in an uproar.

Christian groups led a furious campaign against Hollywood yesterday, accusing the Golden Globe Awards of promoting films with gay or “leftist” themes to serve a political agenda.

The criticism was made after Brokeback Mountain, a film about the forbidden love between gay Wyoming cowboys, won four awards. Other winners included Philip Seymour Hoffman, named Best Actor for his portrayal of the homosexual writer Truman Capote; and Felicity Huffman, the Desperate Housewives actress who played a transsexual with a gay prostitute son in Transamerica.

“Once again, the media elites are proving that their pet projects are more important than profit,” Janice Crouse, of Concerned Women for America, said. “None of the three movies — Capote, Transamerica or Brokeback Mountain — is a box office hit. Brokeback Mountain has barely topped $25 million (£14.2 million) in ticket sales. If America isn’t watching these films, why are they winning the awards?”

--source

Paragraph Of The Day

The NYT stuffs a "high-level assessment" by the State Department in 2002 concluding it was "unlikely" Niger could covertly sell uranium to Iraq. The memo, which the Times says was "distributed at senior levels by the office of Secretary of State Colin Powell," was sent around a year before President Bush asserted that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Africa. "A Bush administration official," declined to say whether the president saw the memo. "The White House is not an intelligence-gathering operation," said the official.

from today's papers
so, this says he lied to the American people.

Letter Of The Day

In a Jan. 7 letter, David C. Hammel declares that the combat-vest recall was insignificant. He asks us to believe there have "been no failures in the field" and that the issue is not a safety matter but merely a public relations one.

How ironic that the same morning Hammel's letter appeared, the Department of Defense released a previously secret study stating that 80 percent of the American troops who died of upper body wounds in Iraq would have survived if adequate body armor had been available.

-John C. Howes, DeWitt.

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two different issues

lets see which one gets the play:

Former Vice President Al Gore and the White House traded accusations over national security Tuesday in a dispute that also pulled in President Bush's other presidential election rival, John Kerry.

At issue was Bush's secret domestic eavesdropping program, which Gore denounced in a speech Monday as illegal and a threat to the U.S. system of government.

Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan shot back at Gore in a style reminiscent of campaigns past, calling the Democrat who lost to Bush in 2000 a hypocrite and accusing him of grandstanding for media coverage.

"If Al Gore is going to be the voice of the Democrats on national security matters, we welcome it," McClellan said. He suggested Gore does not understand the threat facing America from terrorists overseas.

Gore charged that Bush broke the law by allowing the National Security Agency to monitor e-mails and phone calls to and from the United States without approval from a special federal court that authorizes requests to eavesdrop on Americans.

--AP

why we can't have the foxes in charge of the chickencoop

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once again Monday defended the legality of a controversial surveillance program by the National Security Agency, calling it a "very targeted and limited" operation that has helped thwart terrorist attacks in the United States.

--source

a followup on the idea i had this morning

about posting the 1st paragraph of slate's today's papers as a means to test my knowledge of current events.

i'm going to elevate it "of the day" status, and open it up to whatever (and whereever) i find it. Paragraph Of The Day(tm) will be starting tomorrow.

paragraph of the day

The Post's off-lead tells the story of a GI in Iraq killed in 2004 by what might have been friendly fire from Polish troops, though his family was told otherwise for nearly a year. The WP has documents showing an inquiry into the shooting was stopped short because of, as one officer put it in a report, "the International sensitivity of this investigation." The Post also notes "those documents were not issued until after Bush was reelected—with the help of a slim margin in [the soldier's] home state of Ohio." The soldier's mother asserts the election had something to do with stonewalling. Does the Post? Really?

yes, from today's papers

Quote of the Day

This wasn't our program. It's not our mess, and we're not going to clean it up."
--anonymouse F.B.I. official

attribute

i think what i'm gonna do starting today, is put the first paraph of Slate's wonderful too, Today's Papers. i read them everyday and depend on them to give me a birdseye view of the top newspapers in the country. they do a bang up job, and the credit goes to all four (there may be more, but i can name 4) authors. anyway, today's entry: (snak doesn't do what my great lil' windows app, etco, does: pastes with html included. like taking a copy of the source)

The New York Times leads with FBI types complaining that while the National Security Agency's warrantless snooping resulted in a "flood" of tips, "virtually all of them, current and former officials say, led to dead ends or innocent Americans." The Washington Post leads with, and Los Angeles Times fronts, Russia and China saying it'd sure be grand if Iran dropped its nuclear program; the countries did not formally sign on to the U.S. and European efforts to refer the matter to the Security Council for possible sanctions, but it seems they won't object either. The LAT leads with the largest sewage spill in the Santa Monica Bay in at least a decade. USA Today leads with public pension benefits getting ever plumper. The average benefits for retired state and local workers grew 37 percent from 2000 to 2004. (Presumably that's not adjusted for inflation.)

Letter of the WeeQ

I will sleep better at night knowing that our Homeland Security has designated Krispy Kreme in Clive worthy of protection from a terrorist strike ("Iowa Cuts List of Vulnerable Sites," Jan. 6). And, my dreams would be more pleasurable if I knew the Bush administration was eavesdropping on cell-phone users who are getting their coffee and doughnut fix at Krispy Kreme to ensure none of them is calling al-Qaida.

-Kevin J. Pokorny, Des Moines.

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Letter Of The Day

I am appalled by the statement “Joe Six-Pack can count on House Republicans to take care of him” that House Speaker Christopher Rants made in reference to Gov. Vilsack’s budget proposals.

I thought that Republicans supported family values? How does supporting Joe Six-Pack support family values when those six packs are tearing families apart? How many wives have to be beat? How many kids have to have suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome? How many families have to be torn apart by drunken drivers before you start supporting families over Joe Six-Pack?

Who’s supporting the teachers and the children if Republicans are making sure that Joe Six-Pack is taken care of? As a teacher, I have seen the devastating affects of fetal alcohol syndrome on young children. These children have to suffer the rest of their life because Joe Six-Pack was never held accountable for his actions. We are so concerned about making sure Joe Six-Pack isn’t upset at the government that we completely lose site of the children who will suffer and will be supported by the government the rest of their life.

You may chose to support Joe Six-Pac and deny the penny increase a can, but I chose to support Suzy Preschool with or without the “family value” Republicans.

By STACY SIMPSON, Alexander

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the 2nd in 3 days

with odds like that, no WONDER we're not winning the war.

A U.S. helicopter came down near Baghdad on Monday in what appeared to be the second shooting down of an aircraft in three days, with rebel violence expected to escalate as Iraq's election results are confirmed.
--

source

UPDATE:

THE 3RD IN TEN DAYS

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq_helicopter_down;_ylt=AmevApLGCKdoKMsibkCNd5ys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

the pulse of the people

When people were asked in an open-ended question to name the nation's top problem, 25 percent named war, close to the level in October, but up from 19 percent in July. The number of people who named political leaders as the most important problem has almost tripled, from 5 percent in July to 14 percent as the new year starts.

Public concern about the economy, while still relatively high, has been declining. About one in five, 21 percent, named economic issues as the top problem, down from 28 percent in July, according to the poll of 1,001 adults taken Jan. 3-5. The margin of sampling error is plus or inus 3 percentage points.

--source

Letter Of The Day

I first must state that I am a lifelong "conservative" Republican. Having said that, our country is in dire straits.

The latest Abramoff scandal illustrates who controls this country - the lobbyists. Both sides of the aisle are concerned only with getting re-elected. The only solution I can see is term limits.

Prior to the 1994 Republican takeover of both houses, all we heard from them was term limits. Since then, it isn't mentioned. The only things they have accomplished since gaining control are to spend more money and to enhance their wages, retirement and medical plans, all on the back of the taxpayer.

President Bush is doing an excellent job for the most part, but our problem is with the Congress. Vote all the bums out, regardless of their party.

-Rick M. Nord, Norwalk.

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how about that?

a gay cowboy movie is tops (no pun intended) at the golden globes this year.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - "Brokeback Mountain" could be the big winner at tonight's Golden Globes. It has the most nominations: seven.

yahoo

my prediction has come true

the new mediciare drug plan has been a trainwreck waiting to happen, and it looks like it's still happening.

read this

the democrats have a plan

so where is the plan by the republicans? ooops, they don't have one.

WASHINGTON -- Democrats intend to unveil a sweeping plan this week to tighten Congress' code of conduct, officials said Saturday night, including a ban on lobbyists' gifts to lawmakers and a crackdown on special interest provisions slipped into legislation in the final moments before passage.

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Letter of the WeeQ

It was reported Jan. 9 that Dick Cheney was hospitalized for complications from a foot ailment. It was later discovered that, after removing his foot from his mouth, his doctors discharged him to resume his duties as vice president.

—Tim Conlan, Des Moines.

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Letter Of The Day

In the Jan. 1 Opinion section, Senate Republicans Stewart Iverson and Jeff Lamberti respond to the question, "What would you like for the new year?" by listing "pay raises for math and science teachers" and "measurement of the school day in hours to assure taxpayers and students that they aren't cheated."

Where do I begin?

Why are only math and science teachers deemed worthy of a pay raise? What about that "world-class education" that we all claim we want? English, music, art and modern languages are all vital subjects in the total education of every student. What if I proposed a pay raise for Iowa House representatives only?

And why such an adversarial stance? To demand hour-by-hour accountability for school days, to fear that schools/educators are trying to cheat students out of instructional time displays an astounding paranoia. Professional work days are used by educators to - among many other issues - get briefed and trained on the ever-increasing and nonsensical requirements from laws like No Child Left Behind and those of the state. They add mountains of paperwork and data collection to an educator's day without compensatory pay raises or additional hours in which to finish them.

I invite Lamberti, Iverson or any other like-minded legislator to spend one day at work with me, a public-school educator. Would they appreciate the education, training and skill it requires to teach 10 classes at two schools in one day? Would they begin to fathom the effort and expertise required to teach 260 students a day with enthusiasm and caring?

Public school educators are hard-working, dedicated and skilled professionals who receive low pay and few accolades for a difficult yet personally rewarding job. Too bad the Republican leaders don't understand this, and probably never will.

—Kendra Leisinger, Ankeny.

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today's MUST READ article

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060115/OPINION01/601150320/1035/OPINION

regarding open records laws in iowa:

Perhaps the most citizen-friendly agency for records requests was the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which maintains a records center in the Wallace State Office Building in the Capitol complex. There, employees quickly produced all information requests made in 2004 and 2005, including worker e-mails that were stored within the DNR's easily accessible files.

Within days of the Register's request for open-records information, the Iowa Department of Human Services - the state's largest agency, with 5,300 workers- managed to produce for free hundreds of formal and informal requests for information from human-service organizations, legislators and reporters.

well, DUH. DHS is full of democrats.

Conversely, the Department of Transportation, responded to the Register's request with a seven-page letter, outlining the considerable time and expense associated with finding and retrieving requests for public information within the huge agency, which has offices around the state.

Narrowing the scope of the search was of little help: Spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher estimated it would take 73 hours just to find written requests for information within her relatively small office, which employs 26 people, including the director. The estimated price tag to view those records: $1,460.

not surprising there. DOT is repuke land.

get my drift?