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Move follows two-year sting operation NEW YORK - The FBI arrested a Florida doctor and a New York martial arts expert on federal terrorism charges, saying they conspired to treat and train terrorists, federal prosecutors announced Sunday. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, a Boca Raton physician, and Tarik Shah, a self-described martial arts expert in New York, were both charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Both men are American citizens. Prosecutors said Sabir agreed to treat jihadists, or holy warriors, in Saudi...

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is planning a second anti-health care reform Tea Party at the Capitol -- this one scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday -- approximately the time when the House is due to vote on Democrats' public option bill, POLITICO's Jake Sherman reports. King and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) organized a rally Thursday that drew thousands to the west front of the Capitol, drawing chants of “Kill the Bill.” There were a handful of arrests. “We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care,” King said in a news release. “We need the help of...

Did you hear?Sarah Palin is a WOMAN! (gasp!!) And she's a REPUBLICAN! (the horror!!) And she's from ALASKA! (what, she's not even American?!) And she chose to have A BABY! (can you believe it?!) And she shops for CLOTHES! (where do we get people like this?!) And she had no knowledge of the "BUSH DOCTRINE"! (she really is stupid!! What's the Bush Doctrine, BTW?--a non-existent doctrine that some dippy reporter pulled out of his butt to prove how unqualified she is--oh, she's not just stupid--she must be retarded!!) And someone says that someone says that they heard someone else quote...

WATERLOO --- Northeast Iowa soldiers attached to "Ironman Battalion" are facing another lengthy deployment. The Waterloo-headquarterd Iowa Army National guard 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry regiment spent nearly two years on active duty --- mostly in Iraq --- starting in 2005. It appears the Iowa National Guard unit will spend another year away from family and friends, this time in Afghanistan. The U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday the guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th "Red Bull" Infantry Division, of which the 1/133rd is a part of, is on alert. The division will begin deploying in the fall of 2010 to...

CARROLL, Iowa -- Police said they had no trouble identifying two men accused of trying to break into a Carroll apartment. Police were responding to a call about an attempted burglary when they pulled over a car matching the alleged suspects' vehicle. Inside the car, officers found two men with their faces blackened with permanent marker. Police said the caller described two men with painted faces attempting to break into an apartment Friday night before driving off. Twenty-three-year-old Matthew McNelly and 20-year-old Joey Miller were arrested at gunpoint after officers were told they might be armed. Neither man had a...

A Des Moines girl was suspended after school officials said she violated their weapons policy. Jazmine Martin, 12, brought an empty shotgun shell to school on Monday, a souvenir from a summer vacation to South Dakota. The shell was empty and had the word "blank" written on the front.

Iowa City police are investigating an early morning assault in which a man accused another of being a zombie, then punched him twice. Police said the assault occurred at 1:17 a.m. Sunday at an Iowa City restaurant south of the University of Iowa campus. A man was ordering food when he was approached by another man who called him a zombie, then hit him in the eye. When the victim tried to call police on his cell phone, the man punched him again, breaking his nose. The man then ran out a back door. The victim was taken by ambulance...

Last play of the game, 4th down!!! Hawks win!!! 8-0 BAYBEE!!!!

Does anyone want to advance to the BCS title game? Tim Tebow drove Florida for a winning field goal against Arkansas. Several contenders teetered on the edge of extinction Saturday. Florida survived Arkansas 23-20, and Texas snuck by Sam Bradford-less Oklahoma 16-13. Some fell off the edge. Ohio State was stunned by Purdue 26-18, and Virginia Tech was dumped by Georgia Tech 28-23. The first BCS standings of the season will be released Sunday afternoon. No matter how they look this week, we likely will end up with the winner of the SEC title game playing USC or Texas for...

In a new pastoral letter on Church renewal, Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City denounces false interpretations of the Second Vatican Council and calls upon Catholics to “reclaim and strengthen our understanding of the deposit of faith.” Bishop Nickless, originally a priest of the Archdiocese of Denver who served as Archbishop Charles Chaput’s vicar general, writes: "The question arises: Why has the implementation of the Council, in large parts of the Church, thus far been so difficult? Well, it all depends on the correct interpretation of the Council or - as we would say today - on its proper...

Every now and then, you stumble upon a town that's gotten everything right—great coffee, food with character, shop owners with purpose. These 10 spots have it all, in perfectly small doses.

Iowa at Disney encouraging gays to move to Hawkeye State October 2nd, 2009 by Eric Carpenter Figuring that plenty of gay couples in California are frustrated by the inability to get legally married here, representatives from Iowa have set up a booth at Gay Days at the Disneyland Resort encouraging them to consider moving to the Hawkeye State. Iowa is one of four states nationwide that allow gay marriages. That state’s Supreme Court made the decision earlier this year. Two representatives for three regional visitors bureaus flew out for the three-day Gay Days, when 30,000 partipants roll into town to...

WOOT WOOT!!

Link

In a last effort to give the Senate a bipartisan health care bill, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee circulated a comprehensive proposal on Sunday to overhaul the health care system and proposed a new fee on insurance companies to help pay for coverage of the uninsured. ... The proposal by Mr. Baucus does not include a public option, or a government-run insurance plan, to compete with private insurers, as many Democrats want. ... It remains to be seen how Mr. Baucus’s plan might mesh with any proposals Mr. Obama lays out as he tries to pump up support...

Last night Zero Hedge obtained some interesting documents from the CDC web site. They contain blank 'forced quarantine' orders from Iowa and Florida regarding novel H1N1 -- including quarantine to a 'secure detention center'-- which appear to be recent -- dated April 2009....{Copy of document} FL Quarantine to Detention Facility Order Apr 09.{Copy of document} FL Quarantine to Residence Order Apr 09

DES MOINES – Governor Chet Culver issued the following statement tonight, congratulating Democrat Curt Hanson on his victory in the House District 90 special election: “Lieutenant Governor Judge and I want to congratulate Curt Hanson on his win tonight, and we look forward to working with him in the legislature in 2010. We also want to recognize Stephen Burgmeier and his local supporters for running a strong campaign.

"The Iowa Department of Public Health has determined that you have had contact with a person with Novel Influenza A H1N1," the form reads. "The Department has determined that it is necessary to quarantine your movement to a specific facility to prevent further spread of this disease. "The Department has determined that quarantine in your home and other less restrictive alternatives are not acceptable," the document continues, before listing mandatory provisions of compliance with relocation to a quarantine facility.

DES MOINES, Ia. – A blank document from the Iowa Department of Public Health has been discovered online, designed to be filled in with the name of an H1N1 virus victim who is required to relocate from his or her home to a quarantine facility. The form, which began appearing today in e-mails and on the Internet, has concerned a confused public already swimming in conflicting reports about the severity of the swine flu and intrusive government measures that many fear may be taken if the disease becomes a pandemic. The Iowa document, which WND confirmed with state officials is...

Back during the 2008 Iowa Cacuses, a rumor was circulated the night before that Fred Thompson was going to pull out of the race. During an interview the next day, Thompson said he knew who was behind it, but refused to discuss beyond saying it cost him "a couple of points". I understand during the election, nobody was going to admit who did it, certainly not until after November. OK, November came, went, and now the socialist-in-chief has everybody distracted, so, I ask: who did it?

Workers on the second shift at Cummins Filtration were gathered together Monday, told the news, and sent home with a letter directing them to be back in the morning. Tuesday morning, with a team of security guards surrounding company officials, workers at the company's two Lake Mills plants got the word and were then sent home for the day to be with their families. Starting in November, about 400 jobs will be moved to Cummins manufacturing plants in San Luis Polosi, Mexico. The job shift will take four months, completed by March, 2010. The cost-cutting move will help the company...

08/21/2009 10:29 AM Iowa Jobless Rate Climbs To 6.5 Percent In July 0 Posts Iowa's jobless rate rose to 6.5 percent in July, its highest level in 23 years. That up from 6.2 percent in June and more than 2 percentage points higher than the same time last year. Iowa Workforce Development released the updated figures Friday. The number of jobless Iowans now stands at 109,100. Workforce Development Director Elisabeth Buck says layoffs are likely to continue for a while, though the pace of layoffs should slow in the third quarter. Most of the job losses in July were in...

Her main adversary in the hiring process was a professor who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun at the time Justice Blackmun wrote the now infamous Roe v. Wade decision, a professor who has since written in favor of abortion and has written laudatory tributes in Blackmun’s honor. As a consequence of being black-balled – despite impeccable credentials, including graduating “with distinction” from the Iowa College of Law and experience teaching writing at George Mason School of Law - she was passed over in favor of a candidate who not only had no prior law school teaching experience, but...

DES MOINES, Iowa-- An Indianola woman is taking on a big challenge at the Iowa State Fair and it's put her on a feeding frenzy. Lindsay Grooters wants to sample every item at the fair that's sold on a stick. There are 55 such items sold at the fair this year. "If I see it and it looks good, I eat it," she said. She said her selections have ranged from traditional caramel apples to fried Twinkies. "I've had 30," she said. "(There's) 25 to go." Grooters said she's been pacing herself, eating five per day, every day. "I love...

Here is video of Sen. Charles Grassley yesterday at a Town Hall Meeting in Iowa where he said that if a person wants to think about "end of life", number one, Jesus Christ is the place to start." The crowd erupted into applause. He went on to say that if you are talking only about the physical life, as opposed to Eternal Life, "it ought to be done within the family, and considered a religious and ethical issue, and not something that politicians deal with." Once again, the crowd just erupted with applause and approval! Grassley was sparring with a...

Grassley Gets an Earful: No Government Takeover of Health Care By David M. Drucker Roll Call Staff Aug. 13, 2009, 10:29 a.m. Grassley Gets an Earful: No Government Takeover of Health Care Grassley Downplays Legitimacy of Health Care Negotiations AFTON, Iowa — Peggy Erskine used a half-day of her vacation time to give Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) a piece of her mind on health care reform; and she wasn’t alone. Erskine, a 61-year-old factory worker, was one of about 2,000 people who showed up Wednesday at one of four of Grassley’s town-hall meetings across central Iowa farm country. And like...

http://www.dmcityview.com/cover.shtml What made Palin popular with Iowans was not her resume of experience in Alaska. Those who cheered her in Sioux City last fall, with the most vocal applause for a Republican I saw in Iowa in the 2008 presidential cycle, knew little about it. "There is little doubt that she still carries with her enormous admiration from the GOP grassroots," says Iowa Republican strategist Tim Albrecht, Mitt Romney's communications director in Iowa for the 2008 cycle and the founder of TheBeanWalker.com, a conservative Web site The Washington Post ranks as one of the top conservative online venues in the...

(AP) — DES MOINES, Iowa - The Iowa climatologist says temperatures are the coolest this July than any other on record in the state according to preliminary statistics. Climatologist Harry Hillaker says that's good news for Iowa's agricultural crops like corn and beans. Hillaker says the best crop yields are during cooler summers. The lowest July average temperature in Iowa was in 1891 at 68.3 degrees. This July the average has been 68.1 degrees. But Hillaker says more temperature reports could alter that number. There was a low temperature of 42 degrees in Sheldon, Sibley and Spencer on July 19...

It is a bit of an understatement to say that when it comes to dominating the media, President Barack Obama is perhaps unequalled by any politician ever. Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, Obama the King of Pols. The Publisher of NewsBusters.org, Brent Bozell, wrote his syndicated column about the media's full-court Obama press just this week. In which he accurately points out that while the journalistic class remains utterly infatuated with the man, it appears that the American people are begining to reach their saturation point. So let us now turn our attention to an item in yesterday's...

Sara was late for work. The alarm clock didn't alarm, the kids were unusually slow getting ready for school, and nothing went right. She finally got to her car -- a brand new 2020 Chevy Adventure. She touched the finger-print secured start button. Nothing. It wouldn't start. She touched it again. Nothing. Furious, she banged the steering wheel with her fist. Then she noticed the paper hanging from the receipt printer on the dash. "Your designated visa account rejected your Road Use Tax in the amount of $87.32 for the month of June, 2020. You must insert a valid account...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's abrupt announcement that she intends to leave office 18 months early caused plenty of GOP operatives to wonder aloud whether she will be dismissed as a quitter if she makes a bid for the presidency in 2012. But the road to the White House runs through Iowa and New Hampshire, and grassroots activists in both kickoff states generally give Palin's decision more-positive reviews. Her prospects seem especially bright in Iowa. "She's still tremendously popular here," said Mary Ann Hanusa, who chairs the Pottawattamie County Republican Party. Hanusa noted that at her group's central committee meeting on...

State Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, formally apologized to his fellow lawmakers for using a racial slur during a conversation with an African American legislator last week. While discussing changes made to Hatch’s health care reform bill by a House committee, the Senator told state Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines, that they were both being treated like the “N-word” and like “master and slaves.” Hatch told The Des Moines Register on Saturday that he “immediately apologized and I apologized to his clerk, and that’s the end of it. His clerk was sitting right there, and I shouldn’t have said what...

The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa GOP is courting Palin to campaign and headline their chief fundraiser. Go to Conservatives4Palin, because the DesMoines Register cannot be used at FR due to copyright. Conservatives4Palin on Palin stepping up in Iowa.

We appreciate the input of hundreds of people who have voiced their opinions, both positive and negative, on the issue of including Michael Jackson in the 2009 butter sculpture. The ongoing discussion has created a lot of, well, ‘churn.’ Since everyone has an opinion about the sculpture, we’ve decided to put it to a vote and let Fairgoers decide. The concept of the sculpture will be a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk on July 20, 1969. In honor of Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind,” this year’s sculpture will include an astronaut, an American flag and a...

After caring for Vietnam veteran Roger Lennon for more than a dozen years, two months after his death Sarah Miller received a bill from the state of Iowa for almost $300,000 for medical care he received at a state-run veteran's home, according to a report in the Quad-City Times. "I called them and said, 'Is this a joke?'" Miller told the Quad-City Times. "Who has that kind of money? And I was with Roger every time he was signed into the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. They never said anything about billing him after he passed." Lennon was wounded in...

Cedar Rapids businessman and flood recovery leader Christian Fong has entered the race for governor, calling for new leadership to restore the Iowa dream. “Sadly, today I see the dream being ripped away from future generations,” Fong said. He’s seeking the Republican nomination to challenge first-term Democratic Gov. Chet Culver. “The dream has to be restored.”

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) -- the third-ranking member of the House -- is the latest Republican with (possible) national ambitions to head off to Iowa for a political event. Pence, who is due to make an as-yet unspecified appearance in Cedar Rapids on July 24th, isn't on the short list of 2012 GOP candidates, but MSNBC and other outlets have predicted he'll be in the mix. Nevada Sen. John Ensign was in northwest Iowa in early June - shortly before his career imploded -- followed by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who was in Des Moines on Thursday.

She was plucked to safety by the crew on a building site nearby after they spotted the plight of her and her husband. The workers used a crane to lower colleague Jason Oglesbee down to lift the woman free of the water and away to safety. While they were able to rescue the woman, her husband drowned after the boat overturned on the Des Moines River, Iowa. Joe Lowe, one of the construction workers, said: "I saw the boat drift down, and he started it up and he hit the bridge base. "Then he tried to wrap it up with...

Police have charged a 24-year-old former player in the fatal shooting of a prominent Iowa high school football coach.

Electrolux is laying off about 150 more workers at its Webster City laundry plant as the company moves some of its washer and dryer production to Mexico. The cuts announced Friday will be effective June 15. Company spokesman Tony Evans says the layoffs are temporary and that workers could be recalled if business conditions improve. Including the layoffs announced last week, about 500 Electrolux employees have lost their jobs since last November. Electrolux announced in 2006 that it would eliminate jobs in Webster City because production of its front-loading washing machines and companion dryers would move to Mexico. The company...

These choppy clouds over Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an undated picture could be examples of the first new type of cloud to be recognized since 1951. Or so hopes Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. The British cloud enthusiast said he began getting photos of "dramatic" and "weird" clouds (including the above) in 2005 that he didn't know how to define. A few months ago he began preparing to propose the odd formations as a new cloud variety to the UN's World Meteorological Organization, which classifies cloud types. Pretor-Pinney jokingly calls it the "Jacques Cousteau cloud," after its...

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour will headline a Republican Party of Iowa fundraiser in late June, fueling speculation the wildly-popular two-term governor may indeed have ambitions for higher officer. Barbour, 61, will be ineligible to seek another term as governor in 2012, but refuses to speak to his political future, saying only that “You can look for me not to run for re-election.” He will undoubtedly dismiss the candidate-type activity as inconsequential, as spreading the Republican Gospel, but no politician finds themselves in Iowa — the launch pad of every dark horse candidacy — by pure coincidence. Considered a highly effective...

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) - Sioux City city councilman Aaron Rochester is speaking out about national gun control legislation. He says talks of allowing authorities to search homes for unregistered guns goes against the right to bear arms, and he wants to make sure Sioux City police know it. Aaron Rochester, City Council Member:"I think it's going against constitutional rights, and I think our police department in Sioux City should really know every bit of the second amendment so that they can interpret it and do things according to what our founding fathers meant." Rochester's given council direction to make...

ATTENTION ALL TEA PARTY PATRIOTS! If you still haven’t figured out that Obama and his Democrat Socialists have already begun the Communist Takeover of the United States, all you have to do is read the “Letter to the Web Site” of the Dubuque County Democrats http://www.dbqdemocrats.org/ from the Chairman of the Dubuque County Democrats himself , Terry Strwart Below the letters are the Email addresses of the other officers of the Dubuque County Democrats. I think these arrogant clowns need a little education in OUR Free Speech before it is taken away from us. LOCK AND LOAD! ================================================ Letters to...

The US Senate Judiciary committee is now considering the so-called Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed by the House April 29, under the sponsorship of Rep John Conyers (D-MI) and 120 other Representatives. Dubbed the ”Thought Crimes Prevention Act” by some House Republicans, HB1913 includes pedophilia as a protected sexual orientation. Prior to approval by the whole House, a party-line 10-13 vote of Conyers’ House Judiciary Committee April 23 rejected a proposal by Republican Rep Steve King (R-IA) “to define the term `sexual orientation’ as used in the bill to explicitly exclude pedophilia.” Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin, an open lesbian, called...

Here in the heart of the heartland -- Sioux City, Iowa -- a “pitchfork mentality” is emerging. In a town that has stockyards and a meatpacking company that yields what locals call “aroma alley,” the Republican base, which has been in retreat since the presidential election, is energized and the Democratic majority is growing angry at its own leaders. Two issues have emerged as critical: a government plan to prevent the deductibility of state taxes on the federal tax form and a state Supreme Court decision to mandate homosexual marriages. If subject to a vote, these proposals would lose 85...

Missouri state Sen. Jolie Justus of Kansas City on Friday boarded a bus for Iowa where same-sex marriage is legal to wed her partner of nearly two years, the Democratic senator said Sunday. Justus said she married Shonda Garrison of mid-Missouri at a ceremony in Iowa City. The two were one of 17 couples mostly from the St. Louis area that took advantage of the recent Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the Hawkeye State. Missouri does not recognize same-sex marriages, meaning that the marriage carries no legal weight back home in Kansas City. The couples boarded a...

My Aunt Violet Alexander passed away Friday. She was a giver, a good Christian, mother of three boys (all adults now) grandmother, and a long-time babysitter in her community. She even provided daycare to the members of the famous rock group "Slipknot" when they were tikes. A very good country cook, a warm, "diamond in the rough" type person, she was really there for me when my dad passed away in 2002. Our family and Des Moines has lost a good woman. We will miss her.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dozens of gay couples have flocked to Iowa from elsewhere in the Midwest since the door to same-sex marriage was opened there this week, and some counties have seen more interest from outside the state than within. Some couples from neighboring states where voters have passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage plan to move to Iowa so their unions will be recognized. "It’s a whole different world when you cross the river," said Troy Fienhold-Haasis of Omaha, Neb., who plans to move with his partner, Jason, across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, this fall....

Same-sex couples began applying for marriage licenses at government offices across Iowa on Monday, and several couples quickly tied the knot in ceremonies in Des Moines. Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe were declared "legally married" by pastor Peg Esperanaza during a ceremony in front of Polk County administrative offices in Des Moines. It didn't take long before they were referring to one another as "wife." "It's not very romantic is it?" Melisa Keeton joked, referring to the location of the ceremony and the media attention. The couple was allowed to wed after getting a judge to waive the state's three-day...