Quote A Bull

The Liter likes these 2K10 gems...

The Des Moines Register on Super Bowl Sunday --

"More People Will Read The Register Today Than Will Watch The Big Game".

"With a combined print and online audience of 587,878 readers, The Des Moines Register is a tremendous scoring opportunity".

The Nielsen numbers for Central Iowa showed 632,000 people watched Super Bowl XLIV.

In the political arena, you had Mari "Mrs. Big Lug Nut" Culver admitting

“It will be nice to make money. That’s never a bad thing.”

That's Blasphemy to Dummycrats and the scientific community is united in that fact.

At a Cedar Rapids campaign rally, with Vice President Joe Biden --

"If you’re not pumped now, you’re not pump-able".

November showed no pump-a-tude.

Here's Biden, in Cedar Rapids, on the Big Lug Nut --

“I’ve known Chet — I hate to admit this — since he was seven years old, sitting in my front lawn in Wilmington, Delaware with his dad and mom..." shortly before referring to him as "Chuck Culver".

There was Rozanne, err Taxanne Conlin, "whatever her name is", running for the Senate because --

"I'm fed up with tax breaks for the very wealthy..."

All the while this very wealthy person, with assets between $12.5 million and $46.8 million, took tax abatement on her $1.7 Million home and received $64.2 Million in housing tax credits.

The Big Lug Nut brought us --

“This isn’t my first rodeo. We’re going to be ready and we’re going to win this race.”

And

“I can guarantee you one thing, we’re going to win on Nov. 2”.

It wasn't his first guarantee, or the first time he was wrong.

"And I guarantee you by late spring and summer, we're going to have a record amount of job creation and economic development in the state."

Iowa's unemployment rate remained well above 6.5% for all of 2010.

Without a doubt, the Big Lug Nut's best came from the first gubernatorial debate...

Brain Suck
























Nationally, President Obama tops the list with --

"I'm not going to rest...until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil on the Gulf is contained and cleaned up and the people of this region are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods".

All the while taking getaways to Chicago and North Carolina, finding time to play basketball, go golfing and take in a Nationals game.

And

"...we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

His ended up getting kicked in November.

However, he was on top of his game with

Plug The Damn Hole

Here's to 2011!

Roto-Rooter Roeder

The Big Lug Nut needs to flush Phil Roeder.




This Dummycrat shill doesn't stay in one spot long anyway, plus he's let down the BLN more than once and the scientific community is united in that fact.

In January, after the Gov gave his Condition of the State Address in which he only recommended borrowing $700 Million, Roeder said, “Iowa common sense dictates that you don’t spend money that you don’t have.”

By March the money borrowing scam had grown to $750 Million without an explanation and Roeder was trying to explain how the BLN's staff was selling sponsorships to the White House Forum on Health Reform and whether it would cost the state $30,000 or $40,000.

Later that month Roeder had more math and mouth problems when it was revealed the borrowing scam wouldn't create the 30,000 jobs the BLN espoused.

"Whether or not $100 million creates 1,500 jobs, 4,000 jobs or somewhere in between, the bottom line is it's going to create a lot of jobs."

Lastly Roeder, along with Culver's Chief of Staff, made the Big Lug Nut look bad by announcing the 10% pay cut Culver claimed he was taking was only going to be 5.4%.

The Big Lug Nut doesn't need Roeder's help to look bad and by having him clean out his office, it has been over a year and he's probably feeling that itch to move on, he can save taxpayers the dollars that go to a Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications.

Maybe he can go to work for Jerry Crawford and the Iowa Energy?

Back In Time

For those unable to see, because it was in a very dark room, The Big Lug Nut officially announced his re-election effort with the theme -- “Choosing a Brighter Future.”

The location was Des Moines Hoover High school, where the BLN was a onetime government/history teacher, and the backdrop for assorted violence over the years.

It wasn't long ago a female Des Moines Police Officer suffered a broken nose during a brawl and, on the same day as the Governor's announcement, a student was robbed.

During his announcement, Culver admitted -- “You know, I’ve not always gotten it right, but I’ve always given it 100 percent effort".

He must have reverted to teacher mode, wanting Iowans to give him an "E" for effort and the scientific community is united in that fact.

In his speech, the Big Lug Nut stunned no one when he said -- "I've grown as a person".












Culver discussed the Iowa economy and cited a (generic, not specific) single mother from Sioux City working two jobs to make ends meet.

She'll be fine, because according to Culver -- "... I guarantee you by late spring and summer, we're going to have a record amount of job creation and economic development in the state."

She's not real and neither are the I-JOBS.

The Big Lug Nut is on the road, where we found out...Culver stumps Ames













He must have asked them how many jobs have been created by his borrowing scam.

Duhbate

I was not keyed up for watching the final Iowa Governor's debate.

I don't know if it was because I'd rather be watching playoff baseball, or because I'm ready for this to be over, probably both.

Nurse Ratched, the Ragister's Carolyn Washburn's jowls made her look like a puppet during her introduction.

I did like Branstad's "You've tried hard, but the results speak for themselves. The status quo is not good enough" line, but he went to the well with it one too many times.

It only took about 5 minutes into a debate "focused on the future" for the Big Lug Nut to take us back to the '80s and it was about that time I noticed Culver had a sheen going on his face, but he wasn't sweating.

Culver was again name dropping IBM, Google and Microsoft, just like in the previous debate.

Chris noted that Culver criticized Branstad being for big business and wondered what Culver considers his trinity.

Tax Dodgers, at least Google is per this article --Google 2.4% Rate Shows How $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes

It must be okay for Google because they, along with Microsoft, are part of an industry that funds Dummycrats to the tune of 66 percent.

It was odd that Culver quoted Wall Street 24/7 as having Iowa seventh best in education and then saying we have the "best schools".

The online publication is actually named 24/7 Wall St and is based in New Rochelle, New York, but is incorporated in Delaware because it's a tax haven.

24/7 Wall St thinks we're 7th in education because more than 90.5% of 25-year-olds having completed high school or the state equivalent.

Which is actually sad, because more than 90% should complete high school by the time they're 18 and the scientific community is united in that fact.

It was false for Culver to claim that the $90 to $180 dollars he's trying to by votes with would put fuel in people's tanks or food on their table, as Culver is proposing a NON- refundable tax CREDIT.

At the 34 minute mark is when Culver started to break into Sweaty Chetty, with his hand to the upper lip/mouth area before and after a question from Dean Borg.

I thought the "Yes or No Lightning Round" was a failure, with hardly any questions being answered with a simple yes or no.

What the hell is, "You need to look in the mirror before you start throwing stones"?

Does Culver mean, Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?

It's okay to say it that way Chet, after all you served as an Elder at Central Presbyterian Church.

Culver evaded the question of how he would re-invent himself, so I'm going with skinnier and less sweaty for him.

You can tell the Big Lug Nut is behind, because he had no sense of humor when asked about how he's been caricatured over the years.

At least Branstad handled it with humor when he kidded about cartoonist Brian Duffy making him look really short, and it was a nice zing at the Ragister's expense as they laid Duffy off nearly two years ago.

Here It Goes Again

I mentioned last week what Mathletes the Big Lug Nut and posse were with their 30,000 jobs created quickly falling to 22,000.

Now the Ragister wonders...

Do numbers add up in Culver's jobs plan?

Turns out it's a resounding NO!

The BLN's staff now has the job figure down to 21,000.

The reality is considerably less and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The Ragister cites an Iowa State University economics professor who estimates the jobs number closer to 4,050.

Although previously that same professor had the figure closer to 11,175 (1,490 jobs per $100 Million).

BLN spokesperson Phil Roeder says...

"Whether or not $100 million creates 1,500 jobs, 4,000 jobs or somewhere in between, the bottom line is it's going to create a lot of jobs."

My "ciphering" has it at 540 jobs per $100 Million Jethro Bodine.

Even after bursting the Big Lug Nut's bubble, the Ragister is all on board with Iowa borrowing $750 Million, not including $420 Million in interest...

Even if the governor's job-creation estimates from the bonding plan are exaggerated...

David Yepsen, who's moving to Illinois shortly, says...

The governor and the Legislature appear likely to take a more enlightened attitude toward public debt in Iowa.

Easy for him to say since the enlightened one won't be here and neither will his kids.

Remember when he used to whine because the state didn't do enough to keep his kids here and now he goes and leaves, Good luck in Illinois!

Yepsen also tries to equate the state borrowing with Iowa families and businesses borrow money to buy or repair homes, farms or businesses...

Except David, most Iowan's don't go further into debt by borrowing when their income keeps getting cut (Iowa’s sinking revenue projections plummeted another $400 million).

That's the kind of thinking that has helped spawn this whole financial crisis to begin with.

Good Job!

What the?

Recently Governor Big Lug Nut spoke at the 6th Annual Disproportionate Minority Confinement Resource Center Conference (DMCRC).

There's a whole resource center, at the University of Iowa, dedicated to disproportionate minority confinement and they've had conferences since 2002?

The DMCRC is an offshoot of the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice (NRCFCP).

The NRCFCP has been been around for 25 years and is a project of the University of Iowa's School of Social Work.

Put your hand on your wallet because it appears the only thing these people have accomplished is to stay employed and have annual conferences that give the Isiserettes an opportunity to perform.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

At the DMCRC conference the Big Lug Nut told those gathered...

"Let me make it clear, it is my administration's policy to end the overrepresentation of minorities in Iowa's correction system for adults and juveniles."

And that there's "a problem with a portion who are being punished unnecessarily" because of their race.

That's from a politician pandering to his base and sounding like he's for quotas in the prison system.

The Real Sporer said it best...

Culver, in a typical liberal fashion, is seeking to blame the “system” for the minority incarcerations rather than the behavior of the incarcerated individuals.

Here's the reality from Polk County Judge Odell McGhee...

"...in this jurisdiction on average, you've committed a lot of crimes to get to prison."

Add Two More To The Unemployed

Remember all the harping Iowa Dummycrats did about passage of extended unemployment benefits?

It was pure political demagoguery and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Iowans miss out on unemployment benefit extension

The Big Lug Nut decided last year not to seek a change in the state’s unemployment law and that has resulted in 13 fewer weeks of benefits being available to out-of-work Iowans.

Because the BLN did not pursue a federal program for which Iowa qualified in September 2009, potentially 18,000 Iowans missed out on extended unemployment benefits for private-sector workers that were funded by the federal government at no cost to the states.

This is the same man who said (video below) -- "I've been leading the charge in terms of extending unemployment benefits".

During the debate over the extension, Iowa Workforce Development had to use words like "about" and "could" when describing Iowans eligible for additional unemployment benefits because they new the truth that those people wouldn't qualify.

Rozanne, err Taxanne Conlin showed how ignorant she was by lambasting Senator Grassley for ignoring "the men and women of Iowa who are now struggling to provide food for their families, keep a roof over their heads, and provide medical care.”

Blame the Big Lug Nut!

Acting Decisively?

The Big Lug Nut's latest commercial, Stonger Than Ever, states he "decisively cut state spending" while the words "acted decisively" are on screen.

In June the BLN said, "I think we’ve done enough so far” and we should be able to avoid future budget cuts.

By August even the Ragister had called him out by telling him to Take off the rose-colored glasses.

Later that month, one of his spokeswienee's characterized the BLN's inaction as “a more responsible and prudent approach”.

Our post yesterday, What DED the Governor Know?, showed how it took him over a month to process the problems regarding I DED:The Motion Picture and his lies regarding the timeline.

Now the BLN has missed his own imposed deadline of November 6, on making state employee layoffs and a spokeswienee said the eventual decision "could take weeks."

The only thing the Big Lug Nut can act decisive on is his double-fisting drinking and keeping his belly full and the scientific community is united in that fact.




















He must be getting decisive mixed up with divisive!

Blame It On The Rain

Iowa's unemployment rate remained at 6.8% with the number of employed Iowans down.

Wait, that can't be right because the Big Lug Nut promised it would be better by now...

"And I guarantee you by late spring and summer, we're going to have a record amount of job creation and economic development in the state."

Construction jobs fell to the lowest number in Iowa in 10 years.

Even with the $875 million (plus interest) I-JOBS borrowing scam?

What does the Governor have to say about that?

"Well, obviously you've got weather related issues".

"You talk to anyone in this business right now and we've had a unprecedented amount of rain in a very short period of time".

But, I-JOBS began in 2009.

CONstruction joBS!

Culver-Judge, just as phony as Milli Vanilli.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Gotta blame it on something
Blame it on the rain
Blame it on the stars
Whatever you do don't put the blame on you

Who are you blaming that tie on?

Who gets the blame for the brown shoes with a black suit?

Tuesday afternoons have just been brutal to the Big Lug Nut.

Helen Wheels?

The Big Lug Nut's campaign has carjacked Terry Branstad's campaign vehicles.

Uh, oh, Terry Branstad’s Winnebago is a no, no!

Branstad bought two vehicles for his campaign after consulting the director of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.

Iowa campaign law prohibits a campaign from vehicle purchases. Campaigns, instead, are required to lease.

The director of the state agency has now admitted his error -- “I gave them improper guidance, It’s my mistake, and I apologize...".

Culver campaign manager Donn (the second N is silent) Stanley showed some road rage saying -- "This is a continuation of a pattern of the Branstad operation believing they are above the law."

Stanley is making an issue of it because Branstad signed the law 19 years ago and he should know more than the man whose job it is to administer it.

Stanley's solution?

“I think what they have an obligation to do is disgorge this from the campaign."

DISGORGE?

That sounds like something the Big Lug Nut needs to do to drop a couple of tons and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Ignore Rant

The Big Lug Nut's Chief of Staff made news with a Dummycrat hit job on John McCain.

Patrick Dillweed, err Dillon...

said the governor was concerned that McCain's trip would divert local law enforcement from the flood recovery effort to provide security for McCain.

"As a courtesy — and as we did for Senator Obama — we privately made an effort to make sure that Senator McCain knew that state and local resources were still being deployed to support the flood fight and that now may not be the best time for a campaign trip," Dillon said in a statement.

That would have been true for last week in an underwater Cedar Rapids.

This week they even had time for a wedding in Columbus Junction, where McCain visited.

If the Mayor and the Sheriff have time to get involved in the wedding, then it was more like a diversion rather than diverted.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Turns out that was correct as, per Politico, the Mayor didn't have a problem ...

"Certainly, Mr. McCain's visit today in no way hindered any relief efforts or any of our efforts on recovery or security or whatever we were working on," [Dan] Wilson said. He said McCain's staff called him Wednesday night and Thursday to be sure the visit would not cause a problem.

McCain's camp noted he provided much of his own security.

Politico also notes the political background of Dildo, err Dillon...

Dillon is not just a state government functionary. He's an experienced political operative who ran Culver's gubernatorial campaign in 2006 and worked on John Edwards's 2004 caucus effort. In other words, he knows what he's doing.

The Big Lug Nut knew what he was doing too.

Des Moines Register video of flood wedding

Judgmental

The Ragisters Opium section, oops Opinion section has an editorial about the selection of judges in Iowa.

They state...







Iowa's procedure for appointing judges is usually noncontroversial...

That may be do to the fact that most people don't pay attention to, or even vote on, judges.

The Big Lug Nut gets to appoint a new judge to the Iowa Court of Appeals.

Richard Doyle, Amanda Pierce Potterfield or Janece Valentine will get the nod from the goober.

In March, I predicted Culver would place David Baker on the Iowa Supreme Court.

I based that guess on the fact that Baker gave more money to Dummycrats than the other two candidates.

In April, Culver made my prediction come true and the scientific community is united in that fact.

With that in mind, I think Janece Valentine will be his appointee.

Valentine, of Fort Dodge, has given Dummycrat CONgressman Bruce Braley $5,000 from 2005-2007.

Minor consideration was given to the belief The Big Lug Nut will feel pressured to choose a woman.

Here In My Car

From the school of any publicity is good publicity comes this story featuring the Big Lug Nut.

Traffic stop involving governor’s SUV subject of personnel complaint

A Central Iowa family was either cut off by the BLN's Sooie-weet Ride, or they cut off the Governor.

Without video, the family can flip off this complaint and the scientific community is united in that fact.

I bet the digit they shared with the Big Lug Nut just meant you're number one Chet.

The other driver also wants a personal apology from the BLN.

Courtney Maxwell Greene (Department of Public Safety spokesperson) doesn't "think the governor owes anyone an apology".

Said the person Kerry Burt called to be bailed out of jail for his OWI.

The Not So Great Communicator

I thought it was just me, but the Big Lug Nut and posse don't answer calls or return e-mails period...

Ring. Ring. Ring. Click. Hello. You've reached the office of Gov. Chet Culver. We're sorry we can't take your call right now. We're very busy managing the latest state crisis...Please leave your name, phone number and a brief message after the tone, and we'll return your call just as soon as we can. Like maybe in November 2010. Beep!

Back on August 28 (No Charge), I had e-mailed the BLN about a mailing my wife received bearing the return address of Office of The Governor next to The Great Seal Of The State Of Iowa.

I wanted to know three simple questions:

How would the Governor get my wife's name?

What is the cost associated with this mailing?

Who paid for it?

On September 5th (Hello), I had found the answers to the last two questions on my own.

I still had no response from the BLN, so I e-mailed again stating, "This is my second attempt for a response, the first was sent 8/28".

Another week went by and nada, zip, zero, zilch and the scientific community is united in that fact.

On 9/13 I e-mailed, "This is my third attempt in the last three weeks to get an answer, the first was sent on 8/28 and the second on 9/5".

I patiently waited another week and sent this e-mail on 9/20, "This is the fourth straight week I've sent an e-mail seeking an answer. The first was sent on 8/28, the second on 9/5 and the third one on 9/13. This is hardly being constituent focused".

Finally a response was received on 9/24, but came out of the office of the Iowa Insurance Division?!?!?!

Thank you for your recent inquiry to the Governor’s office regarding questions you had about the “Own Your Future” campaign. The Governor’s office forwarded these concerns to me to answer as I am the project lead for “Own Your Future” and will happily answer your questions.

Your first question was how the Governor got your name to send the letter. This planning campaign is a joint initiative between the federal and state governments. The letters are from Governor Culver, but the fulfillment (printing, postage, and sending) is all part of the responsibility of the federal partner agency, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The names, and addresses that were used in fulfillment for this program came from a national list vendor, named Catalyst Direct (http://www.catalystdirect.com) which derives its lists from publicly available data sets.

You next asked how much this cost and who paid. The cost of fulfillment, as I hinted to before, comes from HHS. As far as how much it costs, perhaps the easiest way to answer this question is to say that in general the selected states that participate each year in the “Own Your Future” campaigns have to share resources of $3,000,000 per year. This money, since it is used to send letters to 45-65 year-olds in each state, is not evenly split due to different numbers of this demographic in each state. The funding for this initiative came out of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and is designed to help build awareness around planning for long-term care which would likely reduce the number of people that utilize the Medicaid program for their funding of long-term care. Nationally Medicaid pays more that $120,000,000,000 per year for long-term care services. I only provide this amount so that you can compare the amounts and draw your own conclusion as to the worth of the expense of this initiative.

I hope I have given you enough information, but if not, please do not hesitate to contact me.

It took over four weeks to dump my e-mail onto someone else?

Not even an apology from the BLN's staff for the bumbling of my original inquiry, or an explanation of who and why it was forwarded to someone else.

How difficult was this?

Nowhere To Run

In earth-shattering news

Democrat Chet Culver: I won’t run for public office in 2014

My mistake, the Earth would be shattering if the Big Lug Nut was running

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Sweaty Chetty says -- I am excited to support the Iowa Democratic Party’s great ticket of candidates up and down the ballot 

That leaves the Dummycrats with Jack ASS...err, Hatch for Governor and Staci Appel-sauce for brains for CONgress.

I likes them odds.

In her Ragister report, Jennifer Jacobs states Culver currently runs the Culver Group, a consulting firm.

No, The Culver Group is land surveying and construction firm in the state of California.

The Chet Culver Group is the Big Lug Nut's business.

What's in a name

This summer Barack Hussein Obama tried to say all the argument Republicans had was...

"You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name, you know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

"So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me."

Turns out he does have a funny name and its his wife who brought it up and other Dummycrats that have a problem with it...

First mispronunciation of Obama's name from the podium here at the convention…Barack-O-Rama!

Iowa's Governor Big Lug Nut got into the act calling him...oh-BAM-ah!

The Big Lug Nut concluded with...

"Let's ensure that the journey that began in Iowa will continue on from Denver to Washington, D.C.."

Yeah, back in the Senate after he loses, a la John Kerry, and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Is Bubba going to fire up the troops tonight?

It depends on the meaning of the word

Missed It By That Much

The Big Lug Nut is in GEORGIA for the Masters, per his caddie, but left behind this divot...

Culver sees consensus on $750 million bond plan

It took him a week to read the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll showing a clear majority doesn't support this CON?

Like golf, and his own polling numbers, BLN must think the low number is good and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The Big Lug Nut has been in the rough and on the fringe for awhile with his bunker mentality wanting a mulligan.

His reason for attending the Masters was to cheer on Iowans Zach Johnson and Jack Newman, but that turned into a double bogey as they didn't make the cut.

He could at least treat them to a $5 Foot Long!

Humble Pie?

The Big Lug Nut will need a big old slice for bringing up a State Auditor criticizing Terry Branstad's fiscal practices as Governor.

If you legitimize one State Auditor's beliefs, you legitimize them all...

Iowa Auditor David Vaudt says Chet Culver's proposed budget violates the state's spending limits and contains a $400 million shortfall.

He also says it uses accounting gimmicks to appear balanced.

Cooked books by the Big Lug Nut, how does that taste?

Here's a one time statehouse reporter of that era's take on the REAL story.

It is ironic the then Auditor who complained about Branstad transferred money between accounts, was pressuring Branstad back in 1992 to transfer money between accounts to avoid laying off workers.

As for me, I'll go with the guy who skillfully managed “two sets of books”, and actually helped usher in reforms to Iowa's budgets, over the guy who's inept at handling one.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Baby I Lied

Dave Price catches a HUGE fib from a HUGE Clone fan(?).

The Big Lug Nut said, “I’ve put out a lot of statements when they’ve won earlier in the year, and no one picked those up..."

Price is able to show, via links to the Big Lug Nut's archived press releases, that not one statement has been issued about the Cyclones football team's 2009 highlights.

Those highlights include head Coach Paul Rhoads' first career win, their first road win in 17 games, their first Big 12 win that ended an 11 game losing streak and finally the win at Nebraska after 32 years.

The BLN reminisced about his college football days, "...I do have a lot of great memories playing football at Virginia Tech.”

I have no doubt that Culver is HOKIE!

And the scientific community is united in that fact!

Magpie

I'm not eating crow today, but a member of the family.

Last month I predicted that The Big Lug Nut would name Janece Valentine to the Iowa Court of Appeals.

My theory was that Valentine had given $5,000 to Dummycrat Bruce Braley from 2005-2007.

I also gave minor consideration to The Big Lug Nut feeling pressured to appoint a woman.

Since I wasn't entirely wrong, I'll munch on Magpie and the scientific community is united in that fact.

I got the feeling Valentine wasn't going to make it when she submitted her application, again, for the September opening on the Court of Appeals.