Guns at the statehouse? Oh my!

Brad Zaun does it.

Some don't like it:

Carlos Jayne and his one-man-band, "It would be absolutely wrong to bring weapons into legislative bodies," Jayne said. "It would be almost like open season on public officials. It would be almost encouraging it. Man, that would be terrible."

Others think it's okay but within reason, like having permission from the state:

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield said he too sees no problem with the public carrying firearms at the Capitol as long as they are trained, have a permit and have no history of crime or drug abuse.

Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, "If they are in compliance with other state laws and regulations, I would have no problem with it."

Thanks for the "qualified permission" guys.

Clel Baudler - bringing Chicago politics to Des Moines

Regarding the guns at the statehouse by our elected officials.

“That’s a rumor, and it’s a good rumor because it keeps the lobby at bay, it keeps you reporters away from me. It’s a great rumor.” — Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, a former state trooper responding to a reporter’s question Friday whether he is among the state legislators who have carried a gun into the state Capitol for personal protection.

We have a state legislator intimidating others by using an implied threat against reporters and lobbyists at the same time avoiding the question.

The Science is Settled!

Because some politician says so.

Like a traveling snake-oil salesman, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island (Democrat - what else) came to Des Moines to lecture Iowans on what is the most important issue, first and foremost, forever and ever, amen: "climate change."

“I want to work with you to make sure Iowa is sending a strong message to every single presidential candidate that shows their face here: If you’re going to be credible in Iowa, you’ve got to be credible on climate change,” said Whitehouse, who received a round of applause from the more than 100 lawmakers and Iowans in attendance at his Statehouse discussion.

"Credible" - good one there, senator. More likely 100 gullible sycophants willing to lap up anything the guy said. Whitehouse must be an expert since he's a senator from a big important state from the East.

Attributed as saying, "climate change is an unquestionable fact" he must not be reading anything posted by Borepatch to the contrary. After that, he listed doomsday scenarios that have will kill us all, like blown tires because the temperature raised one-tenth of a degree in 10 centuries.

Nah, just the usual "oceans will rise", "big companies are liars", "you ordinary citizens are too stupid to understand" and "skeptics should be excommunicated, jailed or flogged."

Okay, maybe that wasn't clearly stated in the article, but seriously, go read Borepatch. He's compiled more rebuttals that deserve to be read.

Keep wasting time on climate change Dems, maybe a few gullible folks will buy into it.

Senator Whitehouse in Des Moines:

"It's all man's fault. And Republicans. And big business. It's propaganda to deny this!"

Gun giveaway brings out all the best hoplophobes

Iowa Gun Owners is having a gun giveaway and the vocabulary of the hoplophobes includes: "appalling", "irresponsible", and “We’re not in the Old West anymore. This is supposed to be a civilized country.” - Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City. The Des Moines Register has it all.

Not to be outdone, a talking mutton from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence ignored the part in the announcement about obeying all gun laws, and lamented about the poor "child" who might win an AR-15: “Children clearly do not have the maturity necessary to handle rifles designed for use on the battlefield; and this type of flip, macho attitude about gun ownership is exactly how accidents happen,” [Ladd] Everitt said. Read the IGO announcement.

Since the giveaway can only go to a person that passes a background check, nobody under the age of 18 in Iowa would be able to receive the rifle. I guess that means the United States is sending "children" to the battlefield where they would actually handle fully automatic rifles, instead of the semi-automatics that are only allowed to be possessed in the state by mere citizens here in Iowa.

Good thing we have misinformed spokespeople from Washington, D.C. to straighten us out. We don't need them when we have nanny-state representatives at the statehouse.

Idiot Wind

The wind was blowing today and there was a familiar stench that I hadn't been around for a few months.

The legislature is back in session in Des Moines.

For you young-uns who aren't familiar with the title.

From the song:

Idiot wind blowing every time your move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads heading south

We have our work cut out for us this year.

Statehouse shutdown. And the people rejoice!!!

Not exactly. But at least they didn't raise taxes today.

This afternoon, state representative, Ako Abdul-Samad (D-Des Moines) received a "threatening letter" that contained a unknown white substance. Hazmat teams were called in to clear things out, just in case.

While this is a serious matter, the cynical side of me has reservations regarding the incident.

And the Kabuki Theater entertains us all:

The hazmat teams arrived in protective suits while the representatives and staff kept a watchful eye on the proceedings.

Across the aisle, a state senator thought the response was unimpressive.

And then Senator Gronstal, as always, displays the decorum and dignity that worthy of his position:

“Don’t let those bastards in here. They’re House members for Christ’s sake,” Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal joked at around 5:45 p.m. as senators waited at their desks for further instructions from emergency officials.

"Joke" is the word I use for Gronstal all the time.

Some are more equal than others

Legislation being proposed would pay for the health insurance and college tuition for children of law enforcement officers, firefighters and other public safety officers when that parent dies in the line of duty.

Under the plan, children of those workers would keep their parent's health insurance benefits at no cost until age 26. Children under the age of 26, and qualified veterans under the age of 30, would receive free tuition and fees at Iowa's community colleges and public universities.

Iowa bill would help children when officers die.

Tragic as that is, and I know I'll take a hit for this, but I don't understand why those children get benefits provided by the taxpayer that are not given to all children of the state. My children are less important because of my occupation?

Who is pushing for this bill? Iowa State Troopers Association, State Police Officers Council and two legislators, one a current and one former firefighter. Big surprise.

My suggestion would be to buy life insurance (I know the rates are higher for risky occupations) - but that's what I had to do. Because the state isn't going to step in and provide for my boys with free tuition and health insurance if I die. I don't expect them to.

[Senator] Hancock said the legislation will likely be rolled into a larger "EMS bill of rights" that he and Danielson are working on that also is designed to give some benefits to volunteer public safety workers and help local governments.

Why not teachers who already get a break on student loans if they stay in the state? How about state legislators? Or DOT workers who plow the roads? That's dangerous work.

What about the electrical linemen who brave the ice and wind during a power outage? They are pretty damned important, too. How about the surgeon who saves the life after the ambulance driver safely delivers the patient to the emergency room? The EMS workers' kids get free benefits and the nurses and doctors don't? Doesn't sound fair to me.

It's not like I have no heart as I freely give to associations and fundraising benefits for those in my community who need help. But I do not understand why I should be paying (non-voluntarily) for the benefit of others who should have anticipated the risks and provided for their family if a tragic death should occur.

No one in the state house would be interested in providing for families of IT engineers if one of us should die "on duty." We don't have a lobbying group pushing for it.

Puttin' in a full days' work

The State Senate:

Friday, January 13, 2012

The Senate convened at 9:14 a.m.

The Journal of Thursday, January 12, 2012, was approved.

The Senate adjourned at 9:15 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 17, 2012.

The State House:

January 13, 2012:

The House will convene at 10:00 a.m.

The House convened at 10:08 a.m.

Prayer offered by Representative Steve Lukan

Pledge of Allegiance led by Representative Steve Lukan

Introduction of Bills:

HF 2039 – HF 2041

The House adjourned at 10:10 a.m. until Tuesday, January 17, 2012, at 8:30 a.m.

Both houses convened for a total of 3 minutes. I'm exhausted just reading it.

Lake Delhi revival

Is somehow dependent on the good graces of the taxpayers of the state.

After passing an increase of their own taxes, the Lake Delhi residents are coming up a little short and local service businesses aren't doing so well.

And somehow the taxpayers from Plymouth, Poweshiek and Pottawatomie counties (to name a few) need to "step up" and help foot the bill. I think I should be paying a little more each check so that the local Quick Trip can have a profit.

Here's some earlier posts on the subject, just in case you think I'm serious about paying for it:
Hey Buddy, Want to Buy a Dam?
To be or not to be, Lake Delhi Dam

Local politician (do I have to mention his party?) State Sen. Tom Hancock, “The people there are working so hard that I think the state needs to step up.”

Really, Senator Hand-in-my-pocket? Just because someone "works hard" they deserve a taxpayer bailout? I bet you have a different tune for the "Wall Street Fat-Cats" that your party despises but is in bed with.

If working hard is a prerequisite for state funds, how about sending a few bills my way so I can renovate Camp Stranded and improve Lake Cyrano de Bergerac.


I deserve to have someone else pay to help me out.

But then, I don't want a bailout. Because if money comes from the state for feds, there are a whole lotta strings attached. And I prefer the independence for failure.

As I've written before, if private investors got together to rebuild a hydro-electric dam that powered the community, stocks would be sold out in a relatively short time. I might even invest if the price was right. Dividends would be returned to the stockholders and everyone comes out ahead.

Or we can have election year pandering with SF2002.

Making sawdust

When my dad would plane boards or saw them to width, one would ask him what he was working on. His reply was generally, "Making sawdust."

He used that term in two ways. One, he didn't want you to know what he was working on and two, he messed up on a project and felt he wasted his time.

As I was working on my own little project, it looked like all I was doing was making sawdust. In reality, I was sawing 2x4's for lath:



Starting January, 9th, another group of people will be making their own sawdust and I assume most of them really don't want the public to know about their projects or, more likely, they will be wasting time.

The legislature will be starting their next session in Des Moines and after hearing from our representative's willingness to muck with the tax code and drone on about federal block grants, I'm betting that we all will be getting the shaft once again.

I usually get the blank stare after asking what laws my representative plan on repealing.

"The focus is on jobs, jobs, and jobs," according to a couple of representatives that appeared on "Iowa Press" this week.

I know that Iowa Gun Owners plan on putting the heat to several legislators that didn't step up to pass constitutional carry during last session. And the wind is in the air for competitive races come fall because of this issue. Time will tell if any action comes out of it.

With this being an election year, I fully expect the pandering to emanate from that black hole with the golden dome. Our statehouse.

I still hope they don't meet my expectations.

Former Iowa first lady to run for Congress

Against Steve King - good luck with that.

Carpet-bagger, Christie Vilsack, who took up "residency" in Ames so she could have a shot at Congress, apparently has come up with some money during a "listening tour" for the newly formed 4th District. Her opponent will be the formidable Steve King.

She's picked up almost a half a million dollars from poor, hard-working Iowans in the last quarter.

I don't know what kind of congress-critter she would be but I suppose she Congress could use more comic relief.

Before we go too far, I'm reminded of a State29 post regarding a column Vilsack wrote. He linked to a Boston Herald article that was none too flattering that now has a broken link. But here are a couple of classy lines from an op ed that Vilsack wrote in 1994:

"I am fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires," Vilsack wrote in a 1994 column in the Mount Pleasant News, while her husband, Tom, was a state senator....

Vilsack wrote that southerners seem to have "slurred speech," wrote that she'd rather learn Polish than try to speak like people from New Jersey, and wrote that a West Virginian waitress once offered her friend a "side saddle" instead of a "side salad."...

I'm hoping that she brings her husband and current Ag secretary, Tom Vilsack on the campaign trail.

Golf summit deemed a success

When Obama criticized the congress in a press conference last week:

"They're in one week they're out one week. You need to be here, I'm here. You stay here. Let's get it done."

"These folks are counting on us. They desperately want to believe their leadership is thinking of them and is not playing games."

Apparently this is what he really meant:


President Tee-Time yucking it up with Cry-baby Boehner, VP Biden aka "The Plagiarist" and a GOP presidential wanna be from Ohio.

"The foursome had great time and really enjoyed playing golf at Joint Base Andrews today," a statement from the White House said.

And the picture shows that they were thinking of the American people and not playing games because golf is not a game (or something.)

A classic "let them eat cake" moment and all four of these guys are either too stupid or too arrogant to realize it.

"The foursome had great time..."

America's "toothless" gun laws

They are the blame for the ATF facilitating guns into Mexico.

Democrats are holding a forum Thursday highlighting their findings. Their report, prepared for Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), focuses on shortcomings in U.S. criminal law in pursuing what Mr. Cummings called "international drug cartels that are trafficking tens of thousands of military-grade assault weapons from the United States to Mexico."

Because everyone knows you can buy "military-grade" weaponry at guns shows throughout the country. No questions asked.

Since Democrats "criticized what it described as low penalties for gun-trafficking violations", shouldn't they be screaming the loudest to put Melson, Holder and the rest into prison?

Just asking...

If Edwards needs bail money, he should call her

Source, the Des Moines Register from the 2008 caucuses:

Laura Lundell, of Coralville, tries to bring supporters over to the camp of Democratic presidential hopeful former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., before the second round of voting during the democratic caucus at Kate Wickham Elementary, Thursday January 3, 2008, in Coralville, Iowa.

Holding their feet to the fire

Ben shows us how.

It begs the question, if politicians wish to require training in order to exercise a Constitutional right, should they pass a means test in order to hold office?

Just asking...

Rep Kaufmann apologizes

It was only a joke (like his service at the statehouse, perhaps?)

Open Mic Night at the statehouse

I'm glad he had his microphone on. That way we all know his (and a few others') true opinion of the rights of the citizens of this state.

Read the transcript at the Des Moines Register.

Buyer's remorse at the statehouse

Or, How we voted for the gun bill last year and now regret it.

There is some good fodder in this article. Like:

"We were seduced," said [Sen. Jack] Hatch, one of four senators who voted against the bill. "We were so interested in getting endorsements from this group that we thought it was going to be a political coup, and it turned out to be a coup d'etat."

Never mind that most of the Democrats lost because of outdated ideas and as a backlash against bad legislation that was passed. (Stacy Appel comes to mind)

Crying in the bed wrapped in soiled sheets while your lover is getting dressed is not a pretty sight. And I think many Democrats thought (like the above example) they would gain the trust of the electorate if they would just make love to the NRA.

Good thing we saw through that facade.

Senator Fraise of Ft. Madison obliged us with a "Wild Wild West" quote confusing reality with fiction. He's got a few bills in the works:

Fraise's bill also would require Iowans to qualify on a firing range under the supervision of a certified instructor. This would apply to both new applicants and those renewing permits. Internet firearm training courses wouldn't satisfy the requirement. Anyone who appeals a denial of a weapons permit would have to pay the appeal costs, Fraise's bill says.

Maybe he has a point. The earlier post of a Wisconsin teacher's poster comes to mind.

If there was some way of certifying teachers, lawyers, hair dressers, gun owners...

The world would be a safe and happy place.

At the base of these hackneyed piss-pot senators is that they regret having a bill passed that let the citizens have a little more freedom, a bit more porridge from our keepers.

Those of use who had been humiliated by a pompous county sheriff on a power trip as they denied permit after permit because "no one needs to carry", all the while packing heat themselves, know what it's like to have to ask permission to exercise a basic human right of self defense.

Fraise's attempt to make a citizen pay again to fight for a denial appeal smacks of contempt for citizens' rights. We sent people to the statehouse to not be "reasonable" with you. We sent them to the statehouse to not compromise.

Don't ask us to be "reasonable" either. We got tired of that in the last election and booted most of you out.

We can boot the rest of you out next time.

Too big for their britches

Rep. Rick Olson, D-Des Moines is not short on analogies these days:

“The NRA got a big bite out of the apple last year. It seems like they want to eat the core now, too.”

“It would appear that some special interest groups are too big for their britches.”

Mr Chuckles should do stand up comedy.

House Study Bill 17 examines launching a constitutional amendment process to specifically prohibit gun taxation.

Death to the school bake sale

Over at State29:

Sieg Heil to the Food Nazi: Tom Harkin! The Brave New World is upon us. Hail Obama! Bow down to your Messiah!

Another intrusion into our lowly citizens' lives through better legislation. Thanks once again to Senator Tom Harkin.