Iowa needs modern campaign disclosure
The QC Times looks at Iowa's campaign finance web site and finds it sorely lacking. I've grappled with it for ages myself, at home and at work, and it's ad bad as it can possibly by while still being able to say "campaign finance data is available on line."
Often you have to know the exact form and function of the specific report you are looking for. And the vast majority of reports are scanned images in .pdf format that take forever to download and, once loaded, are illegible often as not. It combines the worst of paper with the worst of the web; you more or less have to print the things out to make any use of them. No one has time for that except newspaper interns.
Iowa needs, number one, mandatory on-line reporting. No more chicken scratching. We also need a searchable database. And there should be some way to link variations on a name so that donors can't fly under the radar as John Smith, John Q. Smith, J.Q. Smith and J. Quimby Smith.
Isn't there a way we can use some of the HAVA money for this? The answer is no, but campaign finance is as underrated an issue as parts of HAVA are overrated (there's no massive waves of mail-in voter fraud by dogs).
Thanks for the hat tips: State 29, Diary of a political madman, and Political Forecast.
4 Aralık 2005 Pazar
Hey, man, is that Freedom Rock?
Hey, man, is that Freedom Rock?
If you're of a certain age, you remember. It was late at night in the late 80s, during one of those seven minute ad breaks that always show up when you watch TV too late.
Cut to a camper, which may or may not be at a Grateful Dead show. Two guys who look like either Tommy Chong or David Crosby hear the opening chords of "Layla" and exclaim:
"Hey, man, is that Freedom Rock? Turn it up, man!"
In one of those moments of post-Gutenberg curiosity - you know, think of something obscure, the Internet puts it at your fingertips - I decided to look back and recall just what, excactly, constituted Freedom Rock. Well, call now and you get:
If you're of a certain age, you remember. It was late at night in the late 80s, during one of those seven minute ad breaks that always show up when you watch TV too late.
Cut to a camper, which may or may not be at a Grateful Dead show. Two guys who look like either Tommy Chong or David Crosby hear the opening chords of "Layla" and exclaim:
"Hey, man, is that Freedom Rock? Turn it up, man!"
In one of those moments of post-Gutenberg curiosity - you know, think of something obscure, the Internet puts it at your fingertips - I decided to look back and recall just what, excactly, constituted Freedom Rock. Well, call now and you get:
They were shooting for a certain 60s nostalgia vibe that was in vogue in that era, and with some of the songs ("Get Together" and "White Rabbit" best fit the bill) they catch the patchouli. The word we're looking for here is "groovy." But some songs are chronologically right but not quite "hey, maaan" enough, Alice Cooper and the O'Jays are too late, and "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo" is just dumb.
But wait! You also get:
I think it's so groovy now that people are finally gettin' together. Indeed.
A little more granola on this volume, though they missed the opportunity by skipping Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit In The Sky." They also forgot the Coke ad, "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing," although Oasis didn't. You get America trying to be Neil Young instead of actual Neil Young. Jethro Tull is so awful that to call them "awful" is to overrate them. The Southern rock is too `70s, though I suppose Freedom Rock lets you get away with "Free Bird". Unsure whether that's the short version, the long version, or the live, "play it pretty for Atlanta" version.
Don't know anyone who actually Called Now and got the thing. I could home burn one, I suppose. But what I'd REALLY like would be a tape of the ad. Maybe there's one copy that actually sold out there, some sort of Holy Grail.
Wait a minute.
"Jump Into The Fire"? This was 1987, a good three years before Goodfellas resurrected Harry Nilsson's followup to chart-topper "Without You" from mid-chart obscurity and granted it cinematic immortality. (You know, the Day Henry Gets Busted sequence.)
And what does Freedom Rock start with? "Layla," as used memorably in the Everybody Connected With The Heist Gets Whacked sequence. ("When they found Carbone in the meat truck, it took them two days to get him thawed out for the autopsy.")
So that's who bought the one copy of Freedom Rock actually sold:
Martin Scorsese!
Just got re-acquainted with the obnoxious MARQUEE tag for that late-night TV ad (wait! slow down!) look.
Bears Top Packers 19-7 At Soldier Field
Bears Top Packers 19-7 At Soldier Field
Four field goals and a defensive touchdown. Not even fun to watch. Best part of the game was the hour of treadmilling - I've managed to pick up my pace a bit. Perhaps my Packer exasperation has something to do with it. If they lose to Detroit next week I'll be sprintin on the damn thing.
Four field goals and a defensive touchdown. Not even fun to watch. Best part of the game was the hour of treadmilling - I've managed to pick up my pace a bit. Perhaps my Packer exasperation has something to do with it. If they lose to Detroit next week I'll be sprintin on the damn thing.
Bolkcom: Iowa nurses need to be able to speak up without fear
Bolkcom: Iowa nurses need to be able to speak up without fear
ouple good guest editorials today:
Joe Bolkcom in the Gazette on the nursing shortage
Mona Shaw in the Press-Citizen on workers's rights.
ouple good guest editorials today:
Iowa Taxes: Regressin' With Yepsen
Iowa Taxes: Regressin' With Yepsen
The Overrated One on the school sales tax today:
The 1-cent local-option sales tax for local schools should be made a statewide tax. Only two counties don't have it...
Johnson County being one. We've never voted on it, but in `99 when we voted on the local option sales tax, it was overwhelmingly rejected.
...so it's clear the vast majority of Iowa voters support the need for school construction.
As do the vast majority of Johnson County voters. Witness the huge YES votes for school construction bonds in Iowa City (2003), Solon (2000), and Lone Tree (2001).
This tax is one way to do that without raising Iowa's already-high property taxes. Districts that don't need buildings could lower their property taxes.
In other words, shift the tax burden from property owners to lower income folks.
How about local option INCOME tax instead?
The Overrated One on the school sales tax today:
The 1-cent local-option sales tax for local schools should be made a statewide tax. Only two counties don't have it...
Johnson County being one. We've never voted on it, but in `99 when we voted on the local option sales tax, it was overwhelmingly rejected.
...so it's clear the vast majority of Iowa voters support the need for school construction.
As do the vast majority of Johnson County voters. Witness the huge YES votes for school construction bonds in Iowa City (2003), Solon (2000), and Lone Tree (2001).
This tax is one way to do that without raising Iowa's already-high property taxes. Districts that don't need buildings could lower their property taxes.
In other words, shift the tax burden from property owners to lower income folks.
How about local option INCOME tax instead?
Snowed In on Sunday
Snowed In on Sunday
My little car is fuel-efficient but doesn't handle especially well on snowy streets. And biking is certainly out. So I'm settled in for the day; Packers, Bears, and treadmill.
Managed to get my usual weekly junk shopping done yesterday and had a couple major scores:
A pair of vintage stereo speakers the size of small refrigerators.
Five computers for a total of $25. The catch: they don't work. I've already created one bootable machine out of parts from three of them. But it's running Windows ME. A bad OS, even by Microsoft standards; it seems to combine the worst of 98 and XP.
My little car is fuel-efficient but doesn't handle especially well on snowy streets. And biking is certainly out. So I'm settled in for the day; Packers, Bears, and treadmill.
Managed to get my usual weekly junk shopping done yesterday and had a couple major scores:
3 Aralık 2005 Cumartesi
Iowa man facing drug sentence says he's too overweight for jail
Iowa man facing drug sentence says he's too overweight for jail
"A Waterloo man who allowed his home to be used to store crack cocaine that was shipped by mail was sentenced to 14 years in prison, federal officials said.
Michael Washington, 32, pleaded guilty last January to making his home available for the storage of crack cocaine, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office.
Washington, who weighs 574 pounds, argued during sentencing that he was too obese and in too poor of health to be adequately cared for in prison, and requested home confinement. "
"A Waterloo man who allowed his home to be used to store crack cocaine that was shipped by mail was sentenced to 14 years in prison, federal officials said.
Michael Washington, 32, pleaded guilty last January to making his home available for the storage of crack cocaine, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office.
Washington, who weighs 574 pounds, argued during sentencing that he was too obese and in too poor of health to be adequately cared for in prison, and requested home confinement. "
Kaydol:
Kayıtlar (Atom)