On the last day of April, a month that saw Des Moines receive 5.89 inches of rain, Weather WienieEd Wilson actually said, during his 5 p.m. slot, that we could use the rain.
He then tried to cover it up by mentioning concerns in Northwest Iowa.
Back on the local front, Weather Wienie Ed Wilson must have read my blog post (I'm A Dumbass Baby!) chiding him for cheerleading us to an all time record.
He noted on a newscast that he doesn't control it.
I never said he did.
Just stick to weather and save your stand up schtick for the comedy clubs you've appeared in.
It was a little ironic that before and after his forecast were weather related stories of a 28 vehicle accident shutting down I-29 and how the City of Grimes Public Works Department had to cancel days off yesterday to plow snow.
Two examples of the types of points I tried to make in that post.
Today Rick Campbell, one of our senior members at age 87, is here to reminisce a bit and give us a history lesson.
He says he is so old that he learned to drive an internal combustion engine car (remember those) with a manual transmission.
He once owned a typewriter.
He remembers when bicycles had one speed, phones had two-party lines, and cameras had something called film.
He is from a different time; almost a different world.
I'm sure all of us are far too familiar with the tragic events of 2010, so Rick is not going to plow that fertile field again.
Instead, he is going to give us a personal look back at the conditions which led up to that fateful year, in a speech titled "2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President."
Yes, 2010 was long ago and far away.
As we look back on history, it appears that some Presidents had an easy ride- times of growth and stability.
Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton come to mind.
Those were good years to be President.
Others were elected just when the Republic was facing terrible crises: Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush.
They rose to the occasion, even though they were controversial and widely hated while in office.
Not such good years to be President.
Just a few years prior, in 2008, the country began foundering.
We were in the sixth year of the Iraqi Occupation, and the economy was flat.
The mainstream press clearly wanted a Democrat elected.
Although we didn't know it until some years later, oil producing nations had colluded to secretly buy their own oil on the open market, driving oil prices to shocking levels above the true demand price- reaching a high of $162 a barrel in October, 2008, just before the general elections.
Their purpose was simple: to effect regime change in the United States.
And of course, the U.S. economy was already in a real estate slump and also suffering the curse of stagflation; slow growth and high inflation.
There were a million home foreclosures.
Independent truckers went under by the thousands.
Airlines failed. Airlines with names now long-forgotten: United, Delta, Northwestern, American.
All now merged, of course, into the one lone U.S. carrier we love so much: Southwest.
Against this backdrop of weariness of the war on terror, and economic distress, the American people were ripe for a demagogue, and they certainly got one in Barack Hussein Obama.
He and his running mate Kathlene Sibelius inspired them with vague notions of hope and change; of a world in which diplomacy settled all international problems, of free universal health care, of abundant alternative energy, of peace and love.
It was a vision too good to resist.
The Republican nominee, a name you probably haven't heard in years, anyone?
Yes, it was John McCain, an obscure Senator from Arizona had no clue how to run a national campaign, and a platform nearly as liberal as Obama's.
The selection of Condoleeza Rice as his running mate looked brilliant at first.
Unfortunately, black voters viewed her as white, and women voters viewed her as one of the guys.
Even so, the McCain/Rice ticket would have won the election if it weren't for the fact that 16 percent of conservative Republicans voted for, anyone remember?
That's right, Bob Barr, another name that's a footnote in history.
After Obama's narrow win, thanks to recounts in Broward County, Florida, the country was positively giddy.
A Democrat House, Senate, and President.
At last an end to gridlock in Washington.
Camelot!
When Congress convened in January, 2009, the 44th President of the United States did something unique in history: he made good on his campaign promises.
Certainly most Americans never really thought he was serious during the campaign.
But whether because of inexperience, idealism, or simply incompetence, he followed through.
In Obama's first One Hundred Days, the Congress passed his initiatives, and he signed them into law as he said he would.
He repealed the Bush tax cuts, increased capital gains taxes.
He enacted a windfall profits tax, and instituted price controls on gasoline and diesel fuel.
He passed universal health care, which added an additional 10 percent tax increase on all working Americans.
He signed the Immigrant Amnesty bill which created 12 million new citizens instantly, each with entitlements.
He closed the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and summarily released all the detainees.
He repealed the Patriot Act, and cut funding for espionage, and eliminated all terrorist listening and wiretaps.
Most important, he began the complete and immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq.
He ignored the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wanted to retain bases in Kuwait and Qatar.
Instead, he went with the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Dennis Kucinich, and ordered all troops back to U.S. soil.
Viola!
In One Hundred Days, by May of 2009, it was all done, and the vision was complete. He did exactly what he said he would do.
And so it was in the summer of 2009 that things began to unravel for Obama.
Of course, the economy needed a tax cut, not an increase, and unemployment quickly rose to 12 percent.
Even attorneys and economists were put in the bread lines.
Hard times.
Price controls on gasoline immediately led to shortages and gas lines.
The global cooling trend we have seen for the past 25 years first became obvious in 2009, exposing the CO2 global warming fraud.
People were justifiably angry.
Federal deficits increased massively because thousands of baby boomers, facing job loss and much higher taxes, simply gave up and took social security.
Although the superb U.S. health care system was thrown into disarray, the bright spot was the creation of the Federal Department of Health care, and the immediate hiring of 250,000 administrators, inspectors and auditors, the only job growth in any economic sector in 2009.
By February 2010, the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq was complete. It was a very expensive undertaking.
And then in March, the gradual Shiite insurgencies from Iran turned into a true Iraqi civil war.
In May, Iranian tanks crossed the border and quickly took Baghdad.
Although the exact number is not known, at least 230,000 Sunni Iraqis died as we stood by.
Iran also quickly moved into undefended Kuwait.
President Obama did exactly what he said he would.
He sent Secretary of State Maria Cantwell to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
After two weeks of high level talks, the United States agreed to allow Iran to retain Iraq and Kuwait to create stability in the middle east, with the understanding that Israel would not be disturbed.
Cantwell returned to Washington, and explained the agreement in her famous speech, in which she proudly noted that the Obama administration had finally achieved "peace in our time" in the Middle East.
So there was some surprise at the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv on August 14th.
President Obama said, "This is not the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad I knew."
The Obama administration decided it would be de-stabilizing to take sides in the conflict, and approximately 29,000 Israeli civilians died during the summer and fall.
American Jews were appalled at the inaction.
Yes, in 2010 most American Jews were Democrats, but because of 2010, they are solid Republicans today.
As awkward as it was, everything might have turned out all right for the Obama administration going into the fall mid-term elections of 2010, if it hadn't been for the dirty bomb in the Port of Long Beach.
The administration had cut funding for the inspection of containers, because they felt it showed a "lack of trust" in the international trading community.
It wasn't really a very big bomb, and thank goodness, not a real nuclear device, but nonetheless it contaminated some expensive real estate- Newport Beach, Palos Verdes Estates- and ultimately caused the death of 14,000 Americans.
People were especially annoyed that Disneyland had to be closed for decontamination.
And so, in the midterm elections, Republicans regained control of both the House and Senate, and the rest is history.
The impeachment proceedings against President Obama for "failure to protect and defend" were swift and nearly unanimous.
Vice President Sibelius resigned.
Newly-elected Speaker of the House, J.C. Watts, became the 45th President of the United States.
But you know the rest of the story well.
Republicans finished the war on Islamic fundamentalists, largely by aiming ICBM's at Mecca and Medina.
No Democrat has been elected President since.
Republicans have held both Houses of Congress.
History of Western Civilization and Economics are now taught in all public schools, and in English only.
Marriage is defined as one man and one woman.
And there are border fences, north and south.
We old codgers remember the ancient Confucian curse:
"May you live in interesting times."
Well, 2010 was an interesting year, but it was not a good year to be President."
This came from my friend Cal, I believe the author is unknown.
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.
Saluting the GREATEST President, of my lifetime, on his birthdate.
Here's what Peggy Noonan said recently about what made the man she once worked for so likable...
There was the courage to swim against the tide, to show not a burst of bravery but guts in the long haul. The good cheer and good nature that amounted to a kind of faith. The air of pleasure Reagan emanated on meeting others, and his egalitarianism. He thought everyone, from Nobel Prize winners to doormen, equal.
God Bless Ronald Reagan and God certainly blessed us with him!
Before the latest snow event Friday, I drove past Principal Park, home to the Iowa Cubs, and a sign reassuringly stated that the snow will be gone by Opening Day on April 8.
There's more on the way Sunday, 6", even though the Weather Wienies had predicted it would miss Des Moines, they said Friday was a dusting and that amounted to about 4".
I know I'm not the only one tired of these TV twerps who are rooting for us to get the all time record of 72".
I'm taking up a collection to get a dump truck filled with snow to dump it on each of these dip shits cars.
I think if they want 72 inches, they should get their wish!
I'm probably all wet with this one and the scientific community is united in that fact.
After all, I'm not a government engineer and I don't even play one on this blog.
I think I need to fully understand why, other than giving Des Moines more than 12 hours extra time, the emergency spillway at Saylorville lake was utilized the way it was.
Per Roger Less, Army Corps of Engineers, the outflow from Saylorville was going to double (from 21,000 cubic feet per second to 42,000 cubic feet per second) when the 6 foot high gates on the emergency spillway were lowered.
It would seem to this untrained observer that gradually increasing the outflow from the primary spillway (by say 10,000 cubic feet per second) it could have lessened the strain on the emergency spillway and sent less water down to Des Moines and beyond.
It could have possibly lessened the destruction, downstream of the emergency spillway outflow, to the surrounding road and area (pictured from 1993).
I do have a vested interest since my mother lives in the Union Park neighborhood.
Speaking of 1993, I heard WHO/TV 13's John Bachman and Weather Wienie Ed Wilson allude to that flood as an overnight sensation.
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.
The Princeton Review has released its survey of life for 115,00 students on 361 college campuses.
The top party schools is what gets mentioned in the media. The Texas Longhorns bring home top "honors" there...Hook 'em Horns!
Iowa, the Old Capitol on campus pictured, dropped from 8th to 9th this year...Come on! You gotta fight, fight, FIGHT for Iowa!
The "toughest school to get into" was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The most "Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, clove-smoking vegetarians" were found at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
The most nostalgic for former President Ronald Reagan was Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich.
The most nostalgic for former President Bill Clinton was Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C. -- which, incidentally, ranked tops in "Reefer Madness" -- marijuana use -- in the poll.
I called his advertising "sad" and "hokey" back in May. Now The Hill online news has an article that says it's "hardly buzz-worthy".
If Chet Culver wants to follow in the footsteps of fellow Democrat and popular Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, he’s going to have to do better than clichés about his tight-knit family, excellence in the state’s schools and the “jobs of tomorrow” in his campaign ads, according to a recent survey by Wilson Research Strategies Inc.
They compare it to Jim Nussle's advertising. Culver's ad didn't measure up, scoring lower than Nussle even among Democrats surveyed.
Nussle’s ad was favored by 53 percent of Democrats, compared to Culver’s 31 percent.
Culver’s ad jumps broadly from topic to topic, beginning with a shot of Culver and his father, former Sen. John Culver, saying how, “in the Culver family, your word is your bond.” The Democrat is called a teacher, a coach, a husband and a father who “cut paperwork and saved taxpayers millions as secretary of state” and “has a specific plan and new ideas to bring excellence to our schools and create the jobs of tomorrow.”
The ad shows Culver holding a book that presumably contains his plan, but no details are discussed. It goes on to say he’s endorsed by labor and women’s groups and is the only Democrat who can beat Nussle. It closes with, “Ready to lead Iowa forward; ready to win in November.”
Surprisingly the ad didn't do well with a Dummycrat core group...State and local government workers gave him the lowest marks. The bright spot? Culver’s ad did play well to lobbyists.
But, it's the DUMMYCRATS! First William Jefferson and now John Murtha(pictured beginning surrender monkey move).
SanFranNancy Pelosi must have been looking in the mirror when she came up with that slogan. She should have remembered...When you point a finger, there's always four pointing back at YOU!
Here's The Washington Times...
Rep. John Murtha is thinking big thoughts. Since coming out for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq last year, he has accused Marines of murder "in cold blood" before a preliminary investigation is even complete; accused the military of a cover up over the same incident; declared his candidacy for the House majority leadership post; and, most recently, refined his cut-and-run strategy in Iraq to mean "redeployment" to Okinawa, Japan. That's quite a splash for such a veteran congressman, who a year ago had zero name recognition outside Washington. That he's made a name for himself now by slandering our troops and their mission deserves a brief recital of some other activities associated with Mr. Murtha. Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported how the ranking member on the defense appropriations subcommittee has a brother, Robert Murtha, whose lobbying firm represents 10 companies that received more than $20 million from last year's defense spending bill. "Clients of the lobbying firm KSA Consulting -- whose top officials also include former congressional aide Carmen V. Scialabba, who worked for Rep. Murtha as a congressional aide for 27 years -- received a total of $20.8 million from the bill," the L.A. Times reported. In early 2004, according to Roll Call, Mr. Murtha "reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco." Laurence Pelosi, nephew of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, at the time was an executive of the company which owned the rights to the land. The same article also reported how Mr. Murtha has been behind millions of dollars worth of earmarks in defense appropriations bills that went to companies owned by the children of fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Paul Kanjorski. Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group, lists Mr. Murtha as the top recipient of defense industry dollars in the current 2006 election cycle. As Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, has said, "If there is a potential pattern where Congressman Murtha has helped other Democrats secure appropriations that also benefited relatives of those members, I believe this would be something that merits further review by the ethics committee." It's odd that the media, which has been fairly unbiased in going after corrupt politicians recently, has gone silent on Mr. Murtha's questionable actions. Or maybe it isn't. Since December, Mr. Murtha has become the darling of the antiwar crowd, and, as we've seen with other such darlings, scrutinizing their behavior is considered disrespectful. But as we're on the subject, few might recall that after the massive 1980 Abscam scandal, Mr. Murtha was named by the FBI as an "unindicted co-conspirator." Maybe the next time the new Jack Murtha thinks up another big idea someone can ask him about the old Jack Murtha.
Here's Robert Novak...
I had forgotten that federal prosecutors designated him an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation 26 years ago. I was reminded of it after Murtha became a candidate for majority leader, not by a Republican hit man but a Democratic former colleague in the House. In a long political career, Murtha has made bitter enemies inside his party who are alarmed by his new stature. . . .
In 1980, the FBI named him as one of eight members of Congress videotaped being offered bribes by a phony Arab sheik.
The other seven targets took cash and were convicted in federal court. The videotape showed Murtha declining to take cash but expressing interest in further negotiations, while bragging about his political influence. Murtha testified against the popular Rep. Frank Thompson, which created lifelong enemies in the Democratic cloakroom. The House Ethics Committee exonerated Murtha of misconduct charges by a largely party-line vote, after which the committee's special counsel resigned in protest.
That salvaged Murtha's political career but limited his public exposure. The current Almanac of American Politics says: ''He speaks for attribution to few national or local reporters, hardly ever appears on television and rarely speaks in the House chamber.'' That reticence has disappeared the last seven months.
Finally the guys at Powerline weigh in...
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hopes to became Speaker of the House by pushing the "culture of corruption" theme in this fall's election. Unfortunately, instances of corruption among House Democrats keep conspiring against her. The latest instance hits particularly close to home. This Washington Times editorial notes that her point man on defeatism in Iraq, Rep. John Murtha, appears to be part of the culture Pelosi purports to condemn.
The Times collects a number of tidbits. The Los Angeles Times reported last year that Murtha's brother, Robert, runs a lobbying firm that represents 10 companies that received more than $20 million from last year's defense spending bill. Another official of the lobbying firm is a former Murtha congressional aide. Murtha is the ranking member of the House subcommittee that appropriates this money.
Murtha's role in the culture of corruption also implicates Pelosi herself. Roll Call reported last year that Murtha "reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco." Pelosi's nephew, Laurence Pelosi, was an executive of the company that owned the rights to the land. Roll Call also reported that Murtha has been behind millions of dollars worth of earmarks in defense appropriations bills that went to companies owned by the children of his fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Paul Kanjorski. And the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan campaign finance watchdog group, lists Murtha as the top recipient of defense industry dollars in the current 2006 election cycle.
Nor is Murtha a newcomer to the culture of corruption. The Times recalls that after the 1980 Abscam scandal, the FBI named him an "unindicted co-conspirator."
Just to be clear, I'm not questioning John Murtha's patriotism. I'm quesioning his ethics.
First off the date is 6-6-06, so it's stretching it just a tad to think of it as 666. They're enjoying it in Michigan where the town of HELL is giving all visitors a letter showing they celebrated June 6, 2006 in Hell. They're also selling one square inch of the town for $6.66. Now that's a real Devil may care attitude! According to USA Today, 30 year mortgage rates are at 6.66%, helping to cool off a housing market that had been hotter than hell. I remember one winter day having someone tell me it was colder than hell, I remarked that if you thought about it every day was colder than hell. I wasn't going to comment on the numerology involved, but in the words of the late Flip Wilson's Geraldine..."The Devil made me do it".
