Williamson,
If you really truly think that the Iowa City Community School District Schools are that dangerous, then perhaps you should consider home schooling your kids. That way you won’t have to deal with the nanny state or whatever else out there that you’re afraid of.

I think, Mr Greer, that those “other options” have been considered and have been either implemented or are in process. Currently all school building in ICCSD can be accessed through one door (the one nearest the office) only. All other doors are locked. Schools already have “security guards who are not police officers” They’re called [...]

Sue, I don’t think you understand what the Affordable Care Act is. But someone has convinced you that “Obamacare” is, in and of itself, health insurance. It isn’t. The law (ACA) requires that everyone be covered by health insurance and that these policies meet certain specified requirements. I don’t know what “waivers” you think you’re [...]

Sue, I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember when airlines used to serve food on flights. They don’t anymore because it’s a money loser. Airlines went from everybody gets fed to pre-order and pay extra to orange juice and a cookie. You eat when you get to the airport and the prices are [...]

Phelps, in order to have that frequent comfortable economical quick travel on a modern railroad, one must first have a railway in place. Trains don’t run on gravel. If we had used and acted on the same arguments against the interstate highway system that Eisenhower planned and began to build in the 1950s, we would [...]

The actual words of Amendment V are: “nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation” The case Williamson refers to is Kelo v New London, Ct (2008) wherein the Supreme Court ruled that cities and states could exercise [...]

Fisher, 1) Fast and Furious is a movie. What you are talking about are ATF (Arizona Field Office) gunwalking efforts (2006-2011) to track guns bought by straw purchasers and smuggled into Mexico. It was a sting operation that did net some smugglers. The number of guns that went missing is not thousands. It’s closer to [...]

Williamson, Since you know everything, I feel safe in assuming that you understand that PACs and campaigns are entirely separate entities and cannot communicate with each other with regard to things like advertising. The ad and its contents were entirely the responsibility of Priorities USA. There was no lie in the ad. Bain Capital did [...]

Hubler,
Occupy is not a 501(c)(4). Neither is Organizing for America. Groups that were selected for auditing were groups applying for 501(c)(4) status. Non profit tax exempt status is not an entitlement no matter what the Tea Party might think.
And who is Doug Shulman

Sue, Health care costs are currently 17.6% of GDP. 1/6th would be 16.6%. Which means even by your numbers, ACA would eat up a smaller, not larger, share of GDP. You think the government is spying on you? What makes you think the government is spying on you? Is the government spying on you better [...]

Ah, now we get down to the nitty gritty. The IRS doing its job (checking to see that requests for deductions and special status are legit, you know, stuff like that) is not the issue. Nor is the Tea Party. It’s ObamaCare. Conservatives just could not derail the Affordable Care Act no matter how hard [...]

Sue, I got an answer for your question ” how many conservative groups were held up vs. liberal progressive groups” As of Dec 17, 2012, 296 applications from groups considered problematic (too much political involvement for 501 (c)(4) status) were reviewed. Of these, as of Dec 17, 2012, 108 were approved, 28 withdrew, 1 was [...]

Then I take, Sue, that you believe that Citizen’s United (“‘Citizens United’ drove the liberals crazy”) is appropriate and correct and that money not only talks, it screams. Two hundred years ago “We the People” was pretty much white men of property. Looks like we’re circling back to that again. But if you think that’s [...]

Williamson, The Watergate burglary was the least of it. You need to check out Article II of the Articles of Impeachment of Richard Nixon. It was his efforts to impede the investigation of the Watergate Burglary (ironically that was an effort to stop leaks hence the code name for the guys that did it–the “Plumbers”) [...]

Williamson, The ad in question did not come from the Obama campaign and Obama never made any such accusation. The charge was made by a PAC, Priorities USA Action. Joe Soptic was a former employee at GST Steel. The company did go bankrupt. Soptic did lose his job and his health insurance and his wife [...]

Sue, When did Obama blame Bush and what did he blame him for? As for the rest of your post, pointing out what everyone already knows and then “conveniently” drawing unwarranted conclusions is not the way to get yourself taken seriously. And FYI, the Commissioner of the IRS when all this alleged persecution of the [...]

Phelps, It’s awfully hard to do damage control when what you are dealing with is a feeding frenzy. The “truth of the matter”? I don’t think we’ve seen this kind of investigation since the House UnAmerican Activities Committee or Senator Joe McCarthy. Oh wait. Impeach Bill Clinton. For what? Nookie on the side? Bring the [...]

Given Branstad’s comments on Iowa “quality of life”, I’m not sure he understands what quality of life means. Everybody knows about the infamous Iowa Brain Drain so I think it is safe to assume that if those who have the means and the opportunity to flee are doing so, then maybe there’s something wrong with [...]

Gallop has been doing a tracking poll of Obama’s favorable vs unfavorable ratings for some time now. Sine May 1, 2013, Obama’s approval rating have been holding steady at 48, 49, 50, 51% with a low point of 47% May 12-14.. Unfavorable have been holding steady at 42, 42, 44, 45% with a high point [...]

Phelps,
I believe Vernon is considering a run for Braley’s seat in Congress, 1st District. She is not considering running for office at the state level.