Incestuous Dummycrats

This whole Central Iowa Employment & Training Consortium debacle just gets seedier & seedier. As I mentioned earlier, CIETC April 16 post, Ramona Cunningham has been called Iowa's highest paid hooker. She was involved with Board Chairman & Des Moines City Councilman Archie Brooks, who had two relatives on the payroll. CommieTommie Harkin said he'd never met her(yet he's shown posing with her for a picture), had their learning center named after him and more importantly earmarked over $2 million dollars for CIETC. That was above what the U.S. Department of Labor had budgeted. Polk County Supervisor & CIETC Board Member John Mauro had a relative on the CIETC payroll. Cunningham's daughter was on the CIETC payroll. Dan Albritton, CIETC Board Member & President of South Central Federation of Labor, bought a boat with Cunningham and he's also received CIETC money for consulting work. Then of course there's the interaction between Iowa Work Force Development and CIETC. IWD Deputy Director Jane Barto and Cunningham are alleged friends and Barto did make several attempts to quash local & federal investigations into CIETC. Former IWD Director Cynthia Eisenhauer is currently Governor Tom Vilsack's(The pickle?) Chief of Staff and she was contacted several times about CIETC problems prior to the media's awareness. Eisenhauer's interim replacement at IWD was Deb Dessert, who is married to one of the former CIETC executives, John Bargman, and received CIETC money for consulting work. Dessert currently works for the Iowa State Auditor's office. WHEW!! I'm sure that's only a small portion of the iceberg. Speaking of icebergs, What is the difference between CIETC and the Titanic? The Titanic had a dance band! I knew something was about to break again because The Pickle was interviewed by WHO/TV13's John Bachman, for a Sunday morning program. WHO/TV13 aired a snippet last night and the Pickle (pictured as Winnie the Pooh) is trying to shift blame to the Republican Auditor's office and Dessert. I don't think that will work too well because the Pickle's office received a report, asked for by the Pickle, from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services. That report was received a few weeks ago, but is being kept secret by the Pickle's office, primarily his Chief of Staff Cynthia Eisenhauer. It's no mere coincidence that the Dummycrats in the Legislature are complaining about the time & money the Legislative oversight committee has been spending on this. Now the Pickle is trying to shift the blame and keep reports secret. After all the Pickle wants to be President.

Good riddance Goober

With apologies to George Lindsey!

It's the last full day for The Pickle to be the leader of a free Iowa.

I had the pleasure(?) of meeting The Pickle when he was just an unknown State Senator from Mount Pilot (oops Pleasant) and was running against Mark McCormick in the Dummycrat primary for Governor.

I was an Executive Vice President of a union local and he came to speak to our Executive Board.

He was the most negative candidate I have ever met, almost non-stop in disparaging his opponent.

The only reason The Pickle won the primary is that Mark McCormick's brother, Dick, was the CEO of US WEST/QWEST telephone company and the Communications Workers of America hated Dick. Mark received the wrath of the union vote, a majority of Dummycrat primary voters.

The Pickle reminds me a lot of Bill Clinton.

I'm not insinuating that he was getting a "hummer" from Sally Pederson.

I just believe he was a phony, did real well for his friends and thanks to a Republican legislature his ability to do long term damage to this state was minimal.

Most Iowans won't be able to tell you one thing he accomplished.

Even the Ragister can't objectively find his accomplishments, resorting to The Pickle's own self promotion.

If you want to read a good run down of The Pickle's legacy click on State 29.

I know Chris and I have laughed about never finding who "stole" his son's automobile from Terrace Hill.

Chris & I have both toured Terrace Hill, when the Branstad family resided there, and were even allowed into the security center in the basement.

There are WAY TOO MANY cameras for anyone not to see what was going on.

My theory was the dipstick was too drunk to put it in park, it explains why the keys were in it and nobody has ever been found.

In his, "I wanna be President State of the State", The Pickle said, "I have given it my all, and I have done my best".

To paraphrase James Ingram's 'Just Once'...Your best wasn't good enough!

Governor Vilsack was a big mistake.....President Vilsack would be even bigger!

It wasn't Pooh

The Pickle and Jon Stewart played nice last night on The Daily Show.

The Pickle sucked up by bringing Stewart a Vil-sack that had the AFLAC duck inside sporting a #1 Vilsack fan button.

At least 3 times the Pickle referred to a "Culture of Dependency" we've created in Iraq.

If anyone would know about a "Culture of Dependency" it's a Dummycrat!

The Pickle also came across as heartless when he said it's their country, let them fight and die for it.

I was surprised that Stewart got so foul, pun intended, that he had to be bleeped when referring to President Bush.

I'm not sure if anyone else caught this flub, but The Pickle said "the light bulb went off" in his "unscripted" moment in Iraq.

When the light bulb goes off, you're in the dark.

Goodnight President Pickle

Pooh-poohing the Governor's pull

Nurses at Finley Hospital in Dubuque have gone on strike. Where's Governor Vilsack (The Pickle)?

For the past couple of weeks he's tried to interject himself into contract talks.

In mid June he called the hospital's CEO and the following week he met with nurses in Dubuque.

The President of the Iowa Hospital Association isn't too impressed with The Pickle.

Kirk Norris has taken note that the governor isn't running for re-election, which diminishes his influence in the state. (Lame Pickle or Limp Pickle?) Norris believes The Pickle is currying favor with the union as he prepares for a possible presidential campaign.

The Service Employees International Union, to which the nurses belong, has contributed over $150,000 in the past to The Pickle.

Pure Pickle

The Pickle is drowning in his own brine as he struggles to stay relevant.

Last week he said work in Iraq will leave little money for domestic projects.

"... we don't have sufficient resources for some of the programs that are so important to keeping the American dream alive".

Ironic coming from a man who wasted over $36,000 of taxpayer money on a booklet touting his worthless two terms.

The Corporation for Enterprise Development put out the Pickle's final report card.

They say Iowa dropped a whole grade in each of three economic performance areas.

A "D" in Employment helped lower the Overall economic performance to a "B".

The state also fell to a "D" for business vitality and a "C" for positioning the state for future growth.

Fortunately, he won't get a chance to pull a fast one over the rest of the country as President.

Pull out Pickle!

You're going to waste more money and you can only hope to out poll Dennis Kucinich.

Another wrinkle for the Pickle

A woman I once worked with named Margaret used an expression, Oh pickle, whenever things weren't going well.

It works for Presidential POOH-bah Vilsack now.

I call him The Pickle, because WHO TV weather wienie Ed Wilson kept calling him Vlassic at a Junior Olympics event.

Just days after telling black Dummycrats in South Carolina, "we have work to do" to root out racial bias in Iowa's state government.

The NAACP is withdrawing from his task force set up to investigate allegations of racial discrimination at Iowa Workforce Development.

The Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., head of the state's NAACP chapter, complained that the governor was trying to narrow the group's investigation.

"The NAACP agreed to lead the investigation but the subsequent communication from the governor and his staff contradicts the original request and significantly restricts the parameters of the investigation".

They scheduled a news conference for Monday to discuss this development.

The president of South Carolina State University's Young Democrats, said discrimination claims in Iowa would only discourage her from voting for Vilsack in the primary if she learned he tried to hide them.

Pooh, Pooh the thought!

The more honed the spotlight becomes folks will find The Pickle won't be able to bear up.

And Clinton jogged too

Eagle Grove is the first stop as The Pickle (Governor Vilsack) begins what he and the media call his final "walk across Iowa".

It's a misnomer, because The Pickle doesn't actually walk across the state.

He rides and then when he gets close, he gets out and walks into town.

He may even walk out of town, but soon afterwards it's back into the vehicle and onto the next walk.

I do believe if he really walked the state, he might be able to cut down on those double chins, belly roll and love handles.

The Pickle is pictured with Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, left, who lost over 100 punds and runs marathons.

Critical of the Pickle

I've had it with people, like Tom(The Pickle) Vilsack, who are criticizing America and the Bush Administration for evacuation efforts in Lebanon.

First- the blame lies with Hezbollah, period! So if you want to criticize...START THERE!

Second-How about some accountability on the part of these idiots who went there on their own accord!

It's LEBANON in THE MIDDLE EAST! Are you that out of touch with reality? As long as I can remember it's been in turmoil.

Here's what I pulled off the Travel Warnings section of the State Department's web site...

January 20, 2006

SAFETY AND SECURITY: Recent events in Lebanon underscore the need for caution and sound personal security precautions. Former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005 in a car bomb attack in which 22 people were killed and many others seriously wounded; the potential for violence remains. Since February 2005, there have been 15 separate bombings in Lebanon, resulting in ten dead and 121 wounded.

Americans have been the targets of numerous terrorist attacks in Lebanon in the past. The perpetrators of many of these attacks are still present and retain the ability to act.

U.S. citizens who travel to Lebanon should exercise heightened caution when traveling in parts of the southern suburbs of Beirut, portions of the Bekaa Valley and South Lebanon, and the cities of Sidon and Tripoli. Hizballah has not been disarmed. It maintains a strong presence in many of these areas, and there is potential for action by other extremist groups in the city of Tripoli. Tensions remain in Lebanon's southern border with the possibility of Hizballah and Palestinian militant activity at any time.

Palestinian groups hostile to both the Lebanese government and the U.S. operate largely autonomously inside refugee camps in different areas of the country. Intra-communal violence within the camps has resulted in violent incidents such as shootings and explosions. Travel by U.S. citizens to Palestinian camps should be avoided. Asbat al-Ansar, a terrorist group with apparent links to Al-Qaida, has targeted Lebanese, U.S. and other foreign government interests. It has been outlawed by the Lebanese government but continues to maintain a presence in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp.

In addition, dangers posed by landmines and unexploded ordnance throughout south Lebanon are significant and also exist in other areas where civil war fighting was intense.

The Department of State urges American citizens to take responsibility for their own personal security while traveling overseas.

So now we have to go bail these idiots out and for FREE?! Why? Because the Dummycrats like the Pickle and SanFranNancy Pelosi are enablers. Even though there's a federal law that mandates reimbursement to the government if an American has to be evacuated from a foreign country. I have no doubt that most of those being evacuated are anti-military too. We're putting our Marines in harms way to save their sorry asses. To top it off, I haven't seen or heard a Thank you or God Bless America from the bunch...INGRATES!

Pickle Politics

Over the weekend the Ragister ran a story about how the Legislature's override of Governor Vilsack's (The Pickle) eminent domain veto wouldn't hurt his Presidential aspirations.

Maybe not, but coming in fourth in their "Iowa Poll" and this Winnie the Pooh picture won't help!

FYI: I keep calling him "The Pickle" because a local TV weather weenie emceed a Junior Olympics function a couple of years ago and kept referring to him as Governor VLASSIC.

Hold The Pickle

Thoroughly entertaining was the Drudge-Vilsack (The Pickle) battle waged yesterday over the government stimulus spending on food for shelters and soup kitchens that feed the poor, such as pictured here.










Part of the federal funds went for 760,000 pounds of ham at a price of $1.19 million, or about $1.50 a pound.

Drudge linked a grocery store (Food Lion) circular that had ham at 79 cents a pound.

That must be the government type of "greater inefficiencies" President Obama cited




And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Jon Sanders provides unique incite, here's a small sample...

Greenbacks and Ham, by Dr. Sluice

I buy ham
I buy ham
Scam-I-Am.

A scam for ham?
A scam for ham?
Is stimulus
A scam for ham?

Would you spend
Greenbacks on ham?

Rock gets Rolled

Tom Vilsack (The Pickle) said he was docking his boat, today, as he ended his Presidential campaign.

The Whispers were true, he's no longer "Rock Steady".

"Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay", one has to wonder where he "got the notion" he could be President.

He certainly didn't get the funding necessary from his 1,159 Iowa supporters.

The Pickle put it this way..."So it is money and only money that is the reason we are leaving today."

Coincidentally enough, "money and only money" is the reason I'm not monetarily wealthy.

I'm hoping he saved enough to return to Pennsylvania, I'll gladly buy him a Rolling Rock beer if he does.

The Pennsylvania Pickle

Having left the Governorship of Iowa, Tom Vilsack (aka The Pickle) had struggled to find full time work.

He attempted a run at President, but pulled up lame.

Drake University professed a desire to have his lightweight lectures part time.

He's all charged up about his part time duties with Mid-American Energy.

Finally, he found what he's really good at....B.S.

He's back lawyering and now he's also lobbying on behalf of the teachers union (NEA).

Now you know why there's that saying...The first thing we do is shoot all the lawyers and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Rat Farm

If the American farmer showed such poor stewardship as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, we'd all be starving.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

The Liter has previously detailed how The Pickle has mandated the indoctrination of government employees via such training(?) as 'Pilgrims were illegal aliens' and training(?) that compares “heterosexism” — believing marriage can only can be between one man and one woman — to racism.

Now more details about “The Pigford Shakedown”show how this political hack, The Pickle, turned a potential government court victory into $1.3 billion settlement for Hispanic and female farmers — some of whom never even claimed discrimination in court.

It doesn't end there, over the past five years, it has grown to encompass a second group of African-Americans as well as Hispanic, female and Native American farmers. In all, more than 90,000 people have filed claims. The total cost could top $4.4 billion.

Playing The Blame Game

Partaking in the official sport of Washington D.C., Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is blaming Congress for the furloughs of meat inspectors expected later this year.

It is believed about a third of USDA’s 100,000 employees may be affected by the furloughs.

The Pickle claims he has no flexibility and furloughs are the only way I can get to $52 million in savings.

Vilsack doesn't mention that One hundred and fifteen jobs have been posted since sequestration began for the Agriculture Department.

Now that's government efficiency for you and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Iowa's Senior Senator, Chuck Grassley, schooled Vilsack on the facts -- The president proposed the sequester more than 18 months ago. That’s a long time for the executive branch to get its ducks in a row to avoid furloughs that impact life, health or safety

As for the $52 million in savings, it isn't quite the pickle Vilsack thinks, he could root out waste and fraud the Agriculture Department Inspector general recommends and save $5.6 billion.

That's no small ball and paints a pretty picture. 

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

The Pickle pouts on IPTV's "Iowa Press", airing tomorrow and Sunday.

"I don't want to sound like sour grapes, but you should not pay attention to early polls."

Oh poor poor me, oh poor pitiful me!

"Iowa polls are not accurate in terms of caucus support."

Woe is me!

"We were absolutely convinced, and I remain convinced and will as long as I live, that I would have won the Iowa caucuses based on the information that we had that is legitimate."

Des Moines pollster Ann Selzer said...."not all polls are bad."

"I've seen several polls in Iowa with decent sampling, and not one says Tom Vilsack had a good shot to take Iowa on caucus night."

Vilsack lied, the Iowa caucuses could have died!
The Pickle's problem was money related alright.

He'd been in government so long that he spent like a drunken sailor, allegedly burning though $500,000 a month.

7 campaign offices in his "home" state!

Campaign swings to New Hampshire, Pittsburgh, Nevada and South Carolina.

If he had a decent strategery, and more than 1,159 supporters at home, he could have ridden "BIG MO" to New Hampshire and beyond...HYAH!

Concur with Chester and critical of the Pickle

Chester Culver, Commander of the Iowa National Guard, ordered all flags at state facilities to fly at half staff today.

It's to honor Command Sergeant Major Marilyn Gabbard, killed this month in Iraq.

Culver also encouraged individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities and counties to fly their flags at half–staff as a sign of respect.

Culver said it is a fitting tribute to all of Iowa's fallen soldiers and the executive order will apply to any Iowa soldier killed in future action.

Class move Chester!

I have to wonder why Professor Pickle couldn't find a pen in the Statehouse?

I guess he didn't have a CLUE!

From the THRONE

Per the Ragister, The Pickle is assigning the names of Iowa leaders to rooms in the state Capitol Complex.

Cutely, they say he wants to leave his mark on the Statehouse.








While I wasn't PRIVY to the discussion, I'm not going to take a POWDER on this.

I'm naturally going to PISS off some with my suggestion.

Name the REST ROOMS after the Dummycrats!

CommieTommie Harkin's TOILET.

Leonard Bozo-well's LATRINE.

John & Chester Culver's CRAPPER.

Dick Clark's COMMODE.

The Pickle's POTTY.

It's not such a SHITTY idea and it didn't take me long to work this up in my LAVATORY.

Iowa Values, Iowa Common Sense?

It was with his latest commercial that I finally figured out who Chester Culver reminds me of.

He's our Al Gore!

They were both born in Washington D.C. to a United States Senator, both went to school in that area and their daddies lost their seats to Republicans.

Both give awkward kisses to their wives to help their campaign, it doesn't work.

Gore practically swallowed Tipper befor his convention speech and Chester gets a peck from the mother of his children in their commercial.

Oh yeah, both are quite LARGE!

"Big lug" is what Mariclare says.

In an interesting development today. The Pickle, Governor Vilsack, appointed key Culver campaign advisor Brent Appel to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Appel ran Chester's daddies 1980 campaign, he lost to Senator Grassley. Appel ran, and lost, in 1982 to Congressman Tom Tauke. Attorney General Tom Miller hired the fellow Dubuquian to work for him. Appel's wife is running for the State Senate (I've had the pleasure of already voting against her, my fear is that she'll win).

The interesting part is there's a little over three weeks until election day. Does the Pickle think Chester's not going to win and that's why he's appointed this Dummycrat shill?

Brent Appel has contributed nearly $40,000 in the last 6 years to Dummycrats. Staci, a homemaker, has given $7,300 in the same time period. $3,000 of that went to Hillary Rodham Clinton!

Pickle anyone? Anyone?

David Yepsen touched lightly on this, but the Hotline (hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com) gives some analysis of Tuesday's Iowa Dummycrat primary.

The larger story to come out of Iowa though, may be what this contest says about Gov. Tom Vilsack's political muscle. Though Vilsack remained studiously neutral, Blouin came from his cabinet and was widely believed to have Vilsack's quiet support. Indeed, Blouin's top campaign aide came direct from the Vilsack office.

What's worse for the '08 hopeful is that in the one statewide race where he did actively play (for Agriculture Secretary), his candidate, a top aide going back to his first GOV race in '98, was trounced by 14%.

So the PICKLE has no pull and therefore has put a dent in his 2008 Presidential ambitions. I would have thought the picture at left would have done that a long time ago!

It Could Be Worse

Jennifer Jacobs, of the Ragister, referred to comments about Tom Vilsack's "holy war" quote as sometimes snide.

We prefer snark to snide and the scientific community is united in that fact, but we're o.k. with slyly disparaging.

The Liter nailed it when we slipped the Vilsack "V" into yesterday's post (The New Christy Minstrels?) .








Christie is using the logo, from The Pickle's failed 2008 Presidential campaign, on her website.

They'll probably tout the recycling aspect, but the reality is they have a lot of left over material to unload.

What's next?











I'm thinking the "V" would work perfectly there.