Iowa Newspaper Posts, Then Pulls Interactive Map Showing Schools With No Security Officers

April 3, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Gun Control, Guns, Iowa, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Progressives, Property Taxes, Security/Safety, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Des Moines Register courted controversy on Wednesday by posting on the Internet an interactive map featuring the locations of Iowa schools that didn’t have security guards. But after a wave of criticism, only hours later the newspaper pulled the map down and reworked it to eliminate the names and addresses of the specific schools. The map was re-launched later that evening.

Initially the map featured flag pins which when clicked would bring up detailed information about the school the flag represented. Each flag had the name of the school, the location of the school and its security situation when known. Red flags were schools with no security guards, green flags were schools with guards, and gray were schools that had not supplied the paper with enough information to delineate whether there were guards or not.

But almost immediately Iowans began to complain, alarmed that the newspaper would set up a map to every school that was totally unprotected. Citizens accused the paper of putting thousands of kids in danger.
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Obama’s Iowa State Fair Visit Costs Small Businessman $25,000

August 17, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Iowa, Liberals, President, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s always nice to have a visit by a sitting president, I suppose, but these days security concerns are so overwhelming that it is often very uncomfortable for those residents and businessmen that live nearby and with Obama’s visit to the Iowa state Fair one small businessman ended up losing $25,000 in income as a result.

Small businessman Mike Cunningham runs the Bud Beer tent at the state fair but saw the Secret Service shut him down for several hours at a peak sales time when the President came to town.

The Bud Beer tent is known as the center of the evening festivities at the state fair but as Obama visited the fair, the beer tent was shut down to accommodate the needs of the Secret Service sent there to protect the President. Mr. Cunningham is a third generation owner of the tent which has been a fair staple for 65 years.
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How is Obamacare being Received in the States?

July 2, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Iowa, Jobs, Liberals, Montana, Nanny State, Obamacare, Republicans, Scott Walker, Society/Culture, Taxes, Virginia, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Watchdog.org has been doing yeomen’s work covering how the various states are reacting to Obamacare and the Supreme Court ruling making it legal. You can see the collected stories HERE, but here are a few highlights:

Follow WatchDog.org for the ongoing coverage, but in the mean time, check out this Obamacare tax chart from the Heritage Foundation.

Hmmmm, Typo Hypothesis Claims Santorum Actually Won in Iowa?

January 5, 2012 | Filed Under Elections, GOP, Iowa, President, Republicans, Rick Santorum, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Did Mitt Romney accidentally get 20 extra votes because of a typo made in Appanoose County?

Ed True, a 28-year-old caucus goer in the town of Moulton, Iowa, says that he was at the caucus and on his notes Romney only got two votes in his precinct. Yet when he checked reported totals later it showed that Romney got 22 votes! He thinks it was a typo. Someone accidentally entered “22″ when they meant to type only one “2.”

The Iowa GOP says that Mr. True is not a party official and it will stand by its numbers as the full, final counting is underway. The certified count won’t be official for a week or two.

Still, it really won’t matter a whole lot. Whether Santorum lost by eight votes or won by ten or twelve is not really that relevant. The result is so close that it is nearly the same in delegate counts and what not.
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How Ron Paul Might Win Iowa and STILL Get No Hawkeye Delegates

December 31, 2011 | Filed Under Conservatives, Elections, GOP, Government, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, President, Republicans, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

My friend Michael Bates has raised some interesting — if technical — points. He notes that Ron Paul could very will win Iowa but still come away with few or even no Iowa delegates. After looking over Bates’ points, I think he has it right. But one thing he said is really trenchant when he noted that journalists don’t bother to read the party rules of correlate past history to see if Paul’s win in Iowa would really mean anything at all.

But first, we should note that the winner of the Iowa Republican caucus rarely becomes president. Many others have noted that the Iowa caucuses don’t pick winners. In fact, over the last six GOP presidential contests, only one Iowa winner became president (George W. Bush). Two others won the caucuses in Iowa but did not win the White House (Bob Dole and Gerald Ford).

That aside, Bates makes some important points in the delegates process. He finds that Ron Paul might win a plurality in Iowa and still come away with no delegates. The most important point he makes is to remind us all that the Iowa Caucus is not a primary election. It is only a straw poll and what happens there is not binding. This is a point that the media almost never make.

As the popularity polls are telling us, Ron Paul is neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney with Santorum have a last minute surge. But this shows that Paul will not be running away with it all, here. This also means that his support will be spread all over the state in numbers that will not commandingly control too many districts. This leaves the door open for the other candidates to band together to prevent Paul delegates from getting any traction and just might result on Paul have few or even no delegates at the state convention.

As Bates has it:
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ISU Lecturer: Patriotism Excludes People At Bottom, Troops Don’t Need Care Packages

December 9, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Anti-War, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Iowa, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Society/Culture, Teachers Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Thomas Walker, lecturer in the intensive English and orientation program at Iowa State University, is disgusted over all this fawning over “the troops.” And so, to vent his disgust, he took to the letters to the editor pages of The Iowa State Daily. What Walker gave us is yet another screed from an extremist, left-winger being paid our tax dollars to “teach” our children his brand of hate for America.

What stirred Walker to spit his venom was a generally benign little program to assemble care packages for our soldiers overseas put on by ISU’s college Republicans. For five years the college Republicans have raised funds to buy socks, wet wipes, shampoo and other sundries for the troops. This year they raised the second highest amount of all the chapters.

But this feels-good story didn’t warm Thomas Walker’s heart, nosiree. University lecturer Walker was filled with disgust at the display of concern for our soldiers. So, Walker took to his pen — and his Thesaurus — to lambast this horrid display of patriotism perpetrated by these nasty college Republicans.

To get the full flavor of his bile, one must see the whole letter.
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Wow: Independent Iowa Voters Disapprove of Obama 61% to 32%

August 11, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Iowa, Liberals, President, Tea Party, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A new poll of 500 likely Iowa voters shows that Obama has fallen to new lows in his approval rating not just among Republicans but even among the all important independents. While 52% of voters in the poll disapprove of the job Obama is doing it is even worse with independents. They disapprove of Obama at 61% to 32%.

This is a bad blow to the man that go into the White House on the strength of his hold upon the independent voters. If Obama can’t hold the independents that sent him sailing into office then his road to reelection might be harder than he thought.

This poll shows Obama in a worse light than a recent Gallup poll that found that Obama’s disapproval rating stood at 49% to 43%.

The Wall Street Journal reports the results of the survey commissioned by the American Action Network, a conservative advocacy group, and carried out by The Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm.
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Michele Bachmann Is In!

June 27, 2011 | Filed Under Conservatives, Elections, GOP, Government, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, President, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michele Bachmann, a representative from Minnesota, has finally thrown her hat in the ring. As of Monday, June 27, Bachmann made it official in front of a crowd in Waterloo, Iowa.

It is no mistake that she did so in Iowa, either, Bachmann has been polling quite well in Iowa coming in near the top of the heap along with long-time candidate Mitt Romney. Interestingly, neither Romney nor Bachmann have been campaigning too heavily in Iowa as of yet and Bachmann is a late comer to the race on top of that…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Choosing Our Own Candidate, What a Concept

June 11, 2011 | Filed Under Conservatives, Elections, Frank Salvato, GOP, Government, Iowa, New Hampshire, President, Republicans, South Carolina, Texas | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

As we approach the true beginning of the 2012 election cycle, the Republican slate of candidates is starting to take shape. Many among those who count themselves as Republicans hold great hope that 2012 will bring to an end a four year reign of irresponsible spending on social engineering issues that – if not by design, almost certainly on purpose – has led our country to a place of fiscal insolvency, national insecurity and diminished stature around the world. But regardless of who finally rounds out the slate of Conservative, Constitutionalist, Libertarian-leaning and Republican candidates in the official Republican field, we are still hobbled by a primary election process that frontloads the results to the Democrat and Progressive advantage.

Each year, the many candidates that vie for a position on the slates of the challenging parties to the incumbent party spend a great amount of time in the states of Iowa and New Hampshire. This reality includes any potential Republican and/or Conservative candidates, and yes there is a difference. But this reality, the reality of the cyclical trek to these two states begs a question, exclusively for those who stand opposed to the expansion of government, the decline of the Constitution and American sovereignty, and the advancement of Progressivism:

Why do Conservatives vying for the GOP nomination subject themselves, the party and the GOP constituency to the results, before all others, from two states that have traditionally voted for the Democrat in a majority of the presidential contests of the 20th and 21st Centuries? How does that divine the best candidate for the Republican Party?
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Stupid Leftists Don’t Know Who They Are Protesting

April 21, 2011 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Iowa, Liberals, RightPundits.com, Taxes, Tea Party, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

To be a common leftist, all you need is your vitriol, your hate and a few buzzwords in your head and you think you are an informed, engaged citizen. It doesn’t matter if you have any real idea about what you are on about or any facts at your disposal. As long as you have that righteous indignation, that is all you need, apparently. No truth need apply.

Take what has befallen a small business in Iowa as a case in point to show that many leftists don’t need any truth to back them up, that their hate keeps them warm…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
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Iowa State University Uses ‘Non-Partisan’ Programs for Hyper Partisan Union Support

March 4, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Education, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Iowa, Liberals, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now, to you and me the word “non-partisan” would mean that no political position should be advocated. Sadly, to the left-wingers that run Iowa State University, “non-partisan” seems to mean just another opportunity for pushing a hyper partisan, left-wing, union-supporting message on students because the union thugs at ISU are now using the Student Ambassadors program to push the union’s political positions quite despite that the charter governing the program specifically says that it is to be a non-partisan affair.

Iowa recently elected a Republican governor to office and he is facing the same budget crisis that every other governor is facing due to the profligacy of past Democrat administrations and their cozy, parasitic relationship with the government employee unions. As a result of the budget crunch Governor Terry Branstad has been pushing some very modest budget reforms for Iowa. This, of course, has the elites in the government employee unions up in arms. They don’t want to see their gravy train grind to a halt. This includes the mis-educational establishment in Iowa — as it does in every other state.

Now, ISU has a student government program called the ISU Ambassadors. These “ambassadors” are supposed to connect students with university and state government, or as the website says, to serve as a “connection between Iowa State University, the state legislature, and Iowa communities.”
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Three Observations About Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s Debate Against Brenna Findley

October 21, 2010 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Iowa, Liberals, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Shane Vander Hart

The one and only Iowa Attorney General Race debate was held yesterday at the University of Iowa Law School between Democratic incumbent Attorney General Tom Miller and Republican challenger Brenna Findley. I have read the scant coverage offered and some info that was emailed to me. I hope to watch or listen if it made available online. From what I have read I have three observations.

1. Incumbent Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s claim to bipartisanship is asinine.

So I guess that is why he didn’t defend our Defense of Marriage Act (which was bipartisan legislation). His bipartisanship also led him to warn county recorders about legal consequences (like getting them removed from office) if they didn’t comply with the Iowa Supreme Court’s unconstitutional order for them to commence issuing marriage licenses. Please show me the law in the Iowa Code that allows gay marriage. Also show me where in the Iowa Constitution it gives the Iowa Supreme Court the authority to administer the law.
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I Must Condemn Iowa Billboard Comparing Obama to Lenin and Hitler

July 14, 2010 | Filed Under Adolph Hitler, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Iowa, Liberals, President, Socialism, Tea Party, Warner Todd Huston, WWII | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently an Iowa Tea Party group sponsored a billboard in Mason City, Iowa that grouped President Obama with Communist Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin and monstrous WWII maniac Adolph Hitler.

The billboard showed the three leaders each with the word “change” under them and with a message that read, “radical leaders prey on the fearful and naive.”

Clearly the billboard was saying that Barack Hussein Obama was a “radical leader” in the same vein as Lenin — whose Russian Revolution spawned nearly a century of oppression, gulags and wars — and Adolph Hitler — whose unhinged hatred for Jews sparked genocide and WWII.

I must admit I got a smirk out of the whole episode. But even as I got that nervous giggle out of my system, I simply cannot countenance the message of this sign and must wholeheartedly condemn it.
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