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Monday, February 27
FCC Proposes More Kids TV Fines - How Well is Your Station Doing?
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 27 Feb 2006 04:00 AM CST
 FCC Proposes More Kids TV Fines - How Well Is Your Station Doing?
Broadcasting & Cable
By John Eggerton
The FCC has proposed
fining two stations a total of $31,000 for "willfull and repeated"
violations of the FCC's kids commercial limits, and has admonished
three more for kids TV rules violations.
It is the latest in what has become a steady stream of fines and admonishments.
The FCC
caps Kids commercials at 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and 12
minutes per hour on weekdays. It also considers that any show that
incudes an ad featuring a character from that show then becomes a
program length-commercial and automatically violates the rules.
The
commission proposed a fine of $17,500 against WTWB, one of its largest
for such a violation, for seven program length commercials. The station
said it was human error, but that did not get it off the hook. The
baseline fine is $8,000, but the FCC more than doubled it, citing the
number of violations.
(Click here to read the entire article).
For more information about children's television rules, click here
Click to join!
Saturday, February 25
Lies and the Lying Liars...W's National Guard Time Memorialized
by
Trish Nelson
on Sat 25 Feb 2006 11:00 AM CST
 Lies and the Lying Liars...W's National Guard Time Memorialized
MinutemanMedia.Org – op-ed voices of reason
by Donald Kaul
Donald Kaul recently retired as Washington columnist for the Des Moines Register.
Things have not been going well in the House of Bush
recently - his agenda isn’t doing well in Congress, investigations keep turning
up embarrassing facts, foreign elections are being won by people who hate
us - but there have been some happy developments, too.
For instance, the National Guard Association of the United States
unveiled a life-size bronze bust of the young Lt. George Bush, memorializing
his time in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. One can only
hope that someday it will grace the George W. Bush Library.
It’s an important monument because it’s almost the only
record we have of Mr. Bush’s Guard service, during which he went Missing In
Alabama for a year and finally just stopped going to meetings.
Maybe this year on Veterans’ Day he’ll lay a wreath at the
Tomb of the Unknown Deserter.
Don Kaul is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-losing Washington
correspondent
who, by his own account, is right more than he's wrong.
MinuteManMedia provides articles free of charge to try to counteract the effects of a one-sided, far-right main stream media.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Click to join!
Friday, February 24
HIDDEN SACRIFICE: Analysis Discovers Big Cuts Ahead for Iowa in Bush Budget
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 24 Feb 2006 04:00 AM CST
 HIDDEN SACRIFICE: Analysis Discovers Big Cuts Ahead for Iowa in Bush Budget
Iowa Fiscal Partnership
Behind the curtains of George W. Bush’s five-year plans for domestic
services are substantial cuts to Iowans. These were not evident from
the widely circulated budget plans for 2007; unlike traditional
practice, the administration did not release its five-year numbers.
Thanks to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which obtained
and analyzed a less well-circulated administration computer run, a
glimpse of the Iowa impact is available. In the context of proposed tax
cuts, it illustrates the choices at stake.
TAX CUTS WOULD FORCE BIGGER DEFICITS DESPITE SPENDING CUTS
Overall, the budget would increase the federal deficit, both short term and long term.
The five-year plan would cut the domestic discretionary budget
(annually appropriated services outside defense and international
affairs) by $183 billion below 2006 funding, adjusted for inflation. Of
those cuts, $167 billion would occur after 2007. By 2011, this spending
would be about $57 billion (13 percent) below the amount needed to keep
pace with inflation.
The proposed cuts in domestic spending would not reduce the deficit in
the [Bush]’s plan; they are less than $285 billion in tax cuts
proposed by [Bush].
Tax cuts proposed by [Bush] would benefit high-income people;
several domestic spending cuts are in services for low-income people.
The [Bush]’s proposals, for example, would mean:
• 4,000 fewer Iowa participants would be served in
the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and
children (WIC) in 2011 than 2006.
• 3,400 fewer Iowa participants in the Commodity
Supplemental Food Program for the Elderly in 2007 than in 2006 (420,000
fewer nationally)
• 800 to as many as 1,100 fewer Head Start participants by 2011.
Combined with proposed spending increases in military and homeland
security spending, the deficit would be about $200 billion worse than
currently expected.
Click here to download the complete Iowa report in PDF format.
Click here to download the full analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Thursday, February 23
Controversy, Cruelty and Cats: North Iowa Town in Uproar
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 23 Feb 2006 11:48 AM CST
 Controversy, Cruelty and Cats: North Iowa Town in Uproar
by Linda Thieman
On
Monday morning, February 20, 2006, Joel Kolker, manager of Kiefer Built
Trailers in Kanawha, Iowa (Hancock County) stood in front of a meeting
of approximately 120 employees and announced that he was going to take
care of Kiefer’s cat problem. Kolker allegedly said that
if he could not trap the cats live during a two-week time period
beginning that day then he would “trap them dead.”
Kiefer
Built Trailers is a large company, producing in the neighborhood of
forty animal transport units a week, although they shut down production
during the night. That is precisely when the cats come out to
play. For some undetermined time, a large number of feral cats
and their kittens have been calling the Kiefer factory home.
The cats
“aren't hurting anyone,” said one Kiefer employee. “I wish
[Kiefer] would just leave well enough alone.” But it appears that
that is not going to happen. Kiefer began trying to live trap the
cats on Monday with little success. Apparently, the traps they
were using were too small and the cats would walk into the traps, take
the food and back out again. One Iowa member of the Humane
Society, a keeper of feral cats herself, had requested of one of the
owners, Joyce Mattson, to be allowed to measure the traps, but was
allegedly rudely rebuffed. Mattson also refused to disclose what
kind of food she was using in the traps.
There is
some concern about how the traps are being handled. According to
a Humane Society document, live traps that are improperly set can
become death traps. Burrs and sharp edges need to be clipped or
filed down. Food/bait placed in traps in metal cans will cause
tooth and foot injuries. Traps need to be checked frequently in
order to prevent other injuries such as nose rubs and facial
lacerations. If night trapping is going on at Kiefer Built and
temperatures in the factory fall below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, that in itself is considered
inhumane treatment.
One
local involved in the uproar alleges that owner Mattson claimed that if
the live traps were not effective, she intended to poison the
cats. The poisoning of animals causes a slow, agonizing death and
is illegal in Iowa. [Iowa Code 481A.58]
At this
point, one of Blog for Iowa’s readers – an employee at Kiefer Built –
contacted us. The employee remembered reading about Blog for
Iowa’s recent informal association with PETA (People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals) and asked for our help. BFIA contacted PETA
and within two days, PETA had assigned Cara Stutzman, a Cruelty
Caseworker, to the case.
Blog for
Iowa informed Stutzman that locals were in contact with the Animal
Rescue League in Des Moines, so Stutzman contacted the ARL and they
agreed to pick up and relocate the live-trapped cats. (Whether
Kiefer will cooperate in this regard remains to be seen.)
Stutzman
also spoke with Kolker, the manager at Kiefer Built. Kolker told
Stutzman that he would not poison the cats and that he would send her a
letter at the beginning of next week stating as much. He also
told her that he knew a local farmer who was willing to take the cats.
According
to many first-hand reports, those who have contacted Kiefer Built about
the plans for trapping the cats have met with a less-than-cooperative
spirit. Because of this, there are still many in the local
community who question whether or not Kiefer Built will follow through
on plans to avoid animal cruelty. It is the wish of these
community members to make this situation known publicly in hopes that
outside pressure will help ensure that no animal cruelty takes place.
If you
would like to help, you can write a Letter to the Editor about this
situation. Please be respectful yet concerned. You can send
your letter to the following local newspapers via email:
Globe Gazette in Mason City
(the biggest paper in the area)
Joe Buttweiler, Editor
joe.buttweiler@globegazette.com
The Garner Leader and Signal
(Garner is the county seat; this paper is a weekly)
Rebecca Peter, Editor
gleader@trvnet.net
The Kanawha Reporter
(the hometown paper; goes to press once a week)
(the office is closed until Monday, Feb. 27)
Click here to use a webmail form.
Britt News-Tribune
(a local weekly)
Angie Johannsen, Editor
editor@brittnewstribune.com
New Bankruptcy Law Fails; Vast Majority Can't Repay Debts
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 23 Feb 2006 04:00 AM CST
 New Bankruptcy Law Fails; Vast Majority Can't Repay Debts
Hastings Group
At the time that Congress passed the infamous bankruptcy law, Chuck Grassley said the bankruptcy changes would clean up "a convenient financial planning tool where deadbeats can get out of paying their debt scott-free."
NACBA Analysis of More than 60,000 Consumers Processed Under New Law Asks: "Where Are the Deadbeats" Congress Expected to Find and Stop With Onerous Rule Changes?
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The first analysis of tens of thousands of consumers seeking protection since a new federal bankruptcy law went into effect last October concludes that the changes put in place by Congress are not working as intended. The report by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) finds that of the 61,355 consumers seen so far by credit counseling firms - the required first stop under the new bankruptcy law - nearly all (97 percent) are unable to repay any debts and that four out of five would-be filers (79 percent) were forced into dire financial straits by circumstances beyond their control, such as the loss of a job, catastrophic medical expenses or the death of a spouse.
Entitled "Bankruptcy Reform's Impact: Where Are All the Deadbeats?," the NACBA analysis is based on data provided by a cross-section of six large and small credit counseling firms that have been authorized by the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to provide bankruptcy screening. The credit counseling firms responding to the NACBA survey were: Money Management International (Houston, TX), GreenPath Inc. (Farmington Hills, MI), Springboard Nonprofit Consumer Credit Management (Riverside, CA), Hummingbird (Raleigh, NC), Institute for Financial Literacy (Portland, ME) and ByDesign Financial Solutions (Los Angeles, CA).
Brad Botes, executive director, National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, said: "Contrary to the claims of proponents of bankruptcy law changes that they would zero in on the alleged legions of 'deadbeats' who supposedly were crippling the U.S. economy with 'billions of dollars in losses associated with profligate and abusive bankruptcy filings,' the federal bankruptcy law changes that went into effect on October 17, 2005 are doing no measurable good whatsoever. Instead, they have put new hurdles in the path of people who are already flat on their back due to financial crises over which they have no control, such as the loss of a job, catastrophic health care bills, and so on."
Botes noted that bankruptcy filings are down because many Americans may mistakenly believe that the courthouse doors are barred to them. The NACBA executive director said, "Credit counseling organizations now know what bankruptcy lawyers and other experts said all along: Congress got it dead wrong when it passed the bankruptcy law. Even though the process is now more cumbersome, time consuming and expensive than before, consumers who need help should still seek out a bankruptcy attorney to explore their options and figure out how to navigate this trickier and more confusing process."
John Rao, attorney, National Consumer Law Center, said: "Bankruptcy judges, attorneys, academic researchers and others warned Congress that the bankruptcy filing rate was a 'symptom' and not the 'disease' itself. So long as people lose their jobs, have uninsured medical problems, and face other catastrophic circumstances, they will need the protection of the bankruptcy system. This data is evidence of that. All Congress has succeeded in doing with the new law is to delay and drive up the cost of bankruptcy protection for those who desperately need it."
more »
Wednesday, February 22
Fallon Reschedules Health Care Tour for Thursday and Friday of This Week
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 22 Feb 2006 04:10 PM CST
 Fallon Reschedules Health Care Tour for Thursday and Friday of This Week
State Representative and gubernatorial candidate Ed Fallon
(D-Des Moines) will visit 8 cities in central and eastern Iowa on
Thursday and Friday to introduce his plan for universal health care.
The tour was initially scheduled for last week but had to be postponed
due to poor weather conditions.
“Other
politicians seem content to apply a few bandaids to our ailing health
care system,” Fallon said. “What I’m offering is a transfusion, an
overhaul of a system that fails more and more Iowans every year. Other
states are moving forward with reform initiatives and with the right
leadership, Iowa can, too.”
DETAILS FOR THE EVENTS
Thursday, February 23:
9:00 AM: Des Moines, State Capitol, East Wing, south side of hall
11:45 AM: Waterloo, Community Health Clinic
3:15 PM: Dubuque, St. Mark Community Center
6:00 PM: Davenport, United Neighbor Center
Friday, February 24:
9:00 AM: Clinton, Democratic Party Headquarters
11:30 AM: Muscatine, Muscatine Community College, Larson Hall Conference Room
1:30 PM: Iowa City, Emergency Room, U of I Hospital
3:30 PM: Cedar Rapids, Community Health Free Clinic
For more information on these events, check out the Fallon for Governor Events page.
LGBTA Student Day At Capitol March 1st in Des Moines
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 22 Feb 2006 06:49 AM CST
 LGBTA Student Day At Capitol March 1st in Des Moines
The Iowa Pride Network's College Coalition has announced
a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied (LGBTA) Student Day at
the Capitol for March 1st at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines.
"All
students deserve safe learning environments, including those that
identify as LGBT and allied. Unfortunately, as seen in the 2005
School Climate Survey and the Straight Student Ally Report, many Iowa
LGBT and allied students face hostile learning environments daily,
inhibiting their personal and academic growth," said Ryan Roemerman,
Iowa Pride Network Director.
The
College Coalition's LGBTA Student Day at the Capitol comes at a time of
much debate about the safety of LGBT students in Iowa.
Iowa
High School and college students will talk to legislators about what it
is like to be LGBT and Allied and encourage them to adopt laws to
specifically protect LGBT students. Historically, legislators
have been reluctant to pass such policies for fear of promoting a "gay
agenda". Nevertheless, the College Coalition is determined to put
a face on the issue.
"When
did wanting to protect all of Iowa's students, including those that are
LGBT, become a political liability?" asked Rachel Johnson, an executive
board member of University of Northern Iowa’s GLBTAU. "It's time
that Iowa legislators act to ensure the safety and access to a quality
education for all students — including Iowa's LGBTA students!" stated
Haley Whitlatch, an executive board member for the University of Iowa's
GLBTAU.
Click here to register.
Register for the LGBTA Student Day At Capitol
Who: LGBT and Allied Students in Iowa’s High Schools and Colleges
What: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Allied (LGBTA) Student Capitol Day
When: Wednesday, March 1st - 10:00 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Where: Iowa State Capitol, Capitol Building, Des Moines
Why:
To tell our legislators to pass anti-bullying and harassment policies
that specifically protect LGBT and allied students from abuse.
The Iowa Pride Network
or prideNet, fights bigotry and intolerance against LGBT students in
Iowa. The Iowa Pride Network works directly with students, empowering
them to start and enhance Gay-Straight Alliances in their high schools
and colleges, while building a statewide network that offers support
mentoring and educational opportunities. In addition, the Iowa Pride
Network educates policy makers and educators on issues facing LGBT
students and advocates for the interests of these students on the state
and local levels.
Tuesday, February 21
Iowa Democrats File Ethics Complaint Against Nussle
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 21 Feb 2006 11:17 AM CST
 Iowa Democrats File Ethics Complaint Against Nussle
Iowa Democratic Party
Today, the Iowa Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Iowa Ethics Board against Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle.
After careful review of both his January state and federal campaign
filings, it appears that Congressman Nussle has made expenditures from
his federal account that clearly benefit his gubernatorial race, and he
has failed to report these expenditures as in-kind contributions.
The specific complaints (taken from the letter submitted by Mike Milligan, Executive Director of the Iowa Democratic Party, to the Ethics Board):
1) Mr.
Nussle’s state finance report fails to show any in-kind donations from
the federal “Nussle for Congress Committee,” while six individuals were
simultaneously paid out of both accounts. Since there is
no campaign for Congress, the staff and consulting paid by the federal
committee was supplementing the salary and consulting fees paid by the
gubernatorial campaign.
2) The development costs of Nussle’s gubernatorial campaign website may have been paid for by the congressional campaign account, with no record of an in- kind donation to the gubernatorial campaign account.
3) Three
congressional campaign expenditures, totaling $33,839.69 for
media-production, were made to McCarthy Marcus Hennings in 2005.
Particularly of interest is the $26,500.00 expenditure made on 4/4/05,
less than one and half months before the congressman officially
announced that he was running for governor. The official
announcement tour of his bid for Governor was accompanied by a video,
which can be found on his website. However, in the gubernatorial
campaign state report there is no report of video or media production
expenses to McCarthy Marcus Hennings until two months after his
announcement. It seems clear that the congressional campaign paid for
the initial video on 4/4/05, which was then used by the gubernatorial
campaign with no acknowledgement of the contribution in the state
report.
Nussle is not running for Congress and had not been running for re-election to Congress throughout 2005.
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