Senator Tom Harkin is a financial genius

Harkin and rep Braley have decided they want to tax financial transactions over $100,000 because the deficit is so high. Not that they should have thought about the deficit before voting for bailouts, "stimulus" bills, etc. Bill would tax stock deals over $100,000

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley and Sen. Tom Harkin, both Democrats, are proposing a quarter-percent tax on all stock deals valued at more than $100,000. The bill would generate an estimated $100 billion or more annually, Harkin said.

If you change jobs and move your 401K to another plan, could you be hit with a tax? If the answer is yes, then you are a Wall Street fat-cat and Harkin wants your money, you rich capitalist bastard.

Harkin said Wall Street could afford the tax. He also stressed its revenue-generating capacity.

"I don't look upon it as any kind of way of punishment or anything like that," Harkin said. "I mean, we're just looking for revenue. We're looking for ways of getting out of this hole we're in."

Maybe if you hadn't dug the hole to begin with...

A similar tax was in effect for almost 50 years during the previous century, and it was doubled during the 1930s, Harkin said.

And that worked out real well, didn't it? The depression lasted another 10 years until WWII.

Kids find ATF agent's gun

Two Bettendorf, IA kids discover a revolver in a sewer in their neighborhood. The kids did the right thing by contacting an adult who contacted local law enforcement.

What could have been a tragic accident if the gun was discovered in a more accessible place, this was averted by a couple of kids smart enough to do the right thing.

Too bad we can't say the same thing about the owner of said firearm. You see he's a "special" agent of the BATFE. Noted on paragraph 5 of United States v. G Lindsey as a "firearms expert".

"Special" agent Mike Bartholomew, proud but absent-minded owner of that firearm

...lives just five houses from the storm sewer. When he heard neighbors talking about the discovery, he contacted police, saying he had misplaced a gun, and it was probably his.

That's some A-1 quality BS right there. "Misplaced". He's even so "special" he doesn't have to talk to the press:

Bartholomew politely reiterated Wednesday that he cannot talk to the media because of his role with ATF.

Isn't that "special".

Read more at Loaded gun, little kids, ATF agent
And Kids spot loaded gun in Bettendorf storm drain

And thanks to him, we have editorials calling for a new law that would make stupidity like his a crime. Zero tolerance for missing guns

More laws against regular citizens because of someone who has no concept of responsible gun ownership. Tack on the fact he's with the ATF, and you add a whole level of stupid on top of it. Lucky for me, he probably serves in my area.

This weekend I'm going to check my gun cabinet to make sure I haven't "misplaced" any of my firearms.

NRA = terrorism

Kurt Hofmann shines light on a no-so-enlightened paid mouth piece of the Joyce Foundation, Mark Karlin.

A new twist, and the point of today's article, is, bizarrely, a call to put the NRA (around 4 million members, and growing) on the "terrorist watch list"--the very same list that we're being told should be used as a basis to deny gun rights.

"When it comes to the terrorist watch list, the NRA -- which fans the flames of armed militia and white male paranoia in the U.S. -- should be at the top of the list."

Ooh--guns, militias, and white males--the veritable Triple Crown of Terror.

Read more at To some, gun rights advocacy is 'terrorism'

What's next, put all gun owners on the terrorist watch list and we instantly can longer longer purchase or possess firearms? I think that's what Karlin is driving at.

Nerf guns are real guns

I thought our University of Iowa had some funny notions about things but Colorado University has taken it over the edge. They declared that if you possess a Nerf gun, you will be treated as if you had a firearm.

BOULDER - If you're caught walking around the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Nerf gun, you could be arrested. Notices have been posted around the campus' dorm buildings, warning students that Nerf gun sightings will be treated like real gun sightings.

Scratch Colorado off Number One's list of prospective schools. More at CU: No shooting zombies with Nerf guns

Take David's poll

Would you help the British just as we did almost 70 years ago?

During a time when England was on the verge of invasion from Nazi Germany, thousands of gun owners in the United States gave their firearms to help our limey cousins.

David Codrea asks: Would you 'send a gun to defend a British home'?

Cedar Rapids woman defends home

This could have been a very tragic story and the woman is lucky that the burglar's heart wasn't really into robbing her, or worse.

The burglar went in through a side door and even took out the bulbs in the flood light to keep from being noticed. However, when he kicked in the door, he made so much noise that Ozella knew something was up.

“I heard that crash at the door, but I didn’t even know it was my door, I thought it was the neighbors door,” said Ozella.

When she saw a flashlight inside, she got up and went down this hallway.

“He didn’t get a chance to get out and run to the door cause I came down the hallway and I hollered and I yelled,” said Ozella.

The 911 operator's advice was much help either. More at Elderly Cedar Rapids woman scares off burglar

Reaction to Obama's speech

The Quad City Times has a few reactions to Obama's speech from local veterans and fathers of veterans.

Ret. Army Col. Hugh Pries, who at age 59 re-entered the Army and served a tour of duty in Iraq from February 2007 through January 2008, said he grew angry as he listened Tuesday night to President Barack Obama's speech on Afghanistan.

And

David Pautsch of Davenport, whose son Cpl. Jason Pautsch, 20, was killed April 10 while serving in Iraq, and his other son, Jared, 24, is serving in Afghanistan, said Obama has put the troops in more danger.

"I think it's brazen cowardice," Pautsch said of the president's speech. "That you could actually talk about withdrawing the troops before you've even sent them is just sheer stupidity. It makes all our troops that much more unsafe."

Read more at Obama's speech angers some locally

I want to be like Tiger

A Solon, IA man decided to follow Tiger Wood's example and destroyed mailboxes on a rural Iowa road. Solon man allegedly mows down 16 mailboxes, 3 street signs

According to Johnson County Sheriff’s Office criminal complaints, Brandon J. Anderson, 24, left a party in Shueyville around 2:30 a.m. Nov. 29. Police said over the course of his 16-mile drive home, Anderson intentionally ran down 16 mailboxes and three street and stop sign posts.

All he got for his efforts is a class D felony charge.

While police were unable to catch Anderson in the act, he did make it pretty easy for deputies to figure out who the culprit was. According to the criminal complaints, Anderson “was kind enough to leave his front license plate alongside one of the damaged posts.”

Good job Brandon.

Des Moines County Deputy in altercation

Deputy Eric Joseph Staub (that I first posted about here Deputy beats guy and beats system) exercises extreme restraint with a couple who assaulted him.

Deputy assault ends in arrest

An off-duty Des Moines County sheriff's deputy suffered significant injuries Saturday when he was assaulted by a man apparently upset because the lawman reported an accident involving the man's daughter minutes before the downtown holiday parade.

Im not be facetious here but kudos for not shooting the guy and his wife.

Auction find for Mauser Medic

Mauser Medic found a couple of Ruskie designed rifles for a fair price for Iowa. Good thing for him, I wasn't there.

Take a look at his finds at Sino-Soviet Saturday

(I've been dealing with many issues - not much time for anything else. Please enjoy the post above and click on any of my links on the right.)