What Now? and Elias Johnson is a Stick!

Good Morning

Sorry about the lack of a blog Monday. It got away from me after a busy morning and a full afternoon. As today doesn't get much better, I'll get one in here but I'll be breif.

What Now?

I kept thinking the vote was going to turn in favor of that bailout plan as the minutes ticked down and the vote ended. I even thought, some of the members might change their vote in the time period reserved after the clock ran out. Turns out Lawmakers just wouldn't go for this deal. Why?

One theory being floated this morning is that it's Speaker Pelosi's fault. She got up and made one of the last speeches during debate. The text is on the UK's Guardian Newspaper this morning. It certainly was partisan. Some Republicans say it caused enough Republicans to change their vote...so the package failed. I get why they're angry. This isn't the time for partisan rhetoric. I also feel like that's taking your toys and going home. Neither side looks very good there.

Some people say there just isn't enough taxpayer protection in this bill. So am I more protected watching my retirement savings go down the tubes for no earthly reason? Financially stable, responsible, reliable companies are now failing because there's no credit to finance things like...a payroll. I agree there needs to be oversight of the money but is this protecting taxpayers?

Some people say the Congressmen who voted against the bill are in tough races and might get voted out if they vote for the package. Good thinking...the country's financial system may fail, and this vote may have put us on an irreversible path toward recession, but at least you'll have your seat in Congress.

If you think, Congress should just split the money among all Americans...I'd like a new driver and a reliable draw off the tee too, but wishing ain't going to make it so.

By the way, if you take that 700 billion and divide it by the total number of individual tax returns the IRS expects to be filed year (I would think you'd use that number to figure out how many ways to split the money)....you get $8,800. There's an email floating around that says if they split the money among all of the people 18 and older we'd all get something like 20 or 40 thousand dollars. Maybe I'm wrong but I think this is why we should let economic experts talk about big numbers like this. We can't even do simple division.

Elias Johnson is a Stick!

Channel 13 had a group out yesterday for the Gateway Tour Championship Pro/am Monday at The Legacy Golf Club in Norwalk. Brett McIntyre, Elias Johnson and Brooke's husband Eric teamed up for an impressive score of six under. We had a lot of help from our pro. Gateway paired us up with Todd Rossetti. Some of you may remember Todd was our pro last year and finished tied for fourth last year and finished his season with a nice payday at Legacy. Since we saw him last, Todd and his wife welcomed their first child into the world. He says he played less this summer because of it, but he was able to play closer to home thanks to expansion of the Gateway Tour. We hope Todd has the same kind of success at Legacy this year as he did last.

On to my partners for the day. I almost fell over when John Bachman told me he couldn't play GOLF with us Monday!

Our new reporter Elias Johnson may pass John as the best golfer in the newsroom. Elias filled in for John Monday.

He's an Arizona State University grad who apparently spent enough time in that warm climate to develop the reliable draw I'm looking for. Brett and I need to work on our game!

Just a reminder, The Gateway Tour Championship is going on all week at the Legacy Golf Club. The Course is in PERFECT shape and the conditions are going to be perfect! Get out there and see some of the best young golfers in the country compete. You can say you saw these guys in Iowa when they're standing over a putt to win the US Open some time down the road.

Hope you all have a good day!

PWD

Bailout Breakdown, Overnight Fire and What's the Big Deal?

Good Morning!

This morning we lose a member of the Today in Iowa team for a few weeks. Megan Reuther has been a TROOPER in the waining weeks of her pregnancy. It looks like this will be her last day before her maternity leave. We're happy she's going to get a "break" and will update you when baby arrives.

To the news:

Bailout Breakdown

I woke up to news that a US bank had failed. Washington Mutual bank out of Seattle had been in the headlines because it was so weak. It's got to freak you out a little that a bank failed. I know this doesn't mean a widespread collapse of the banking industry as a whole and WaMu had made some bad decisions. The prevailing wisdom among the experts this morning is that this will accelerate the move make a deal on the bailout.

Meanwhile Presidential Politics are now infused into this deal.

We talked a little about the PR stumbles the McCain camp can't seem to get itself out of the way of this week.

He cancels with David Letterman saying he needs to go back to Washington, then goes upstairs and does an interview IN THE SAME BUILDING with Katie Couric! That's just bad staff work. Who didn't see this one coming? Letterman took a live picture of McCain talking to Couric during the taping of his show!

Then the Senator suspends his campaign to go to Washington to help work out a deal on the economy. OK I'm good with that...trying to show you're a guy who understands the work of the country is more important than campaigning. But McCain arrived to find he didn't really agree with everything in his own President's bailout package, and then House Republicans go in front of the cameras and say they're not going to support the thing. Any impartial observer would say it does not look like The Republican Party has a sense of itself from top to bottom. This may end up being too much to overcome before election day.

Overnight Fire

The circumstances of an overnight fire in Johnston are still a little unclear. The entire house was on fire by the time the firefighters arrived. It looks like the woman who lived there was out of town. An adult child was off at college, and no one seems to know where the Dad is. He is unaccounted for at this point and firefighters can't rule out the idea that he might have died inside but they think he was away as well. We'll find out more as the day goes on.

No. 1 No More

I think if USC scheduled The top two teams in the country every season and the Little Sisters of the Poor Varsity football team every season you could county on a loss to the Little Sisters. What the heck is going in here? #1 USC lost to Oregon State last night. This is the same team the dismantled an Ohio State team that's not bad. The real question that should be discussed at water coolers across the country today is, What does this mean for Missouri's ranking.

What were They Thinking?

PETA is at it again. They want Ben and Jerry's to stop using milk from cows and instead use breast milk in their Ice Cream.

I think this solidifies my point about people not paying attention to PETA because they do so many ridiculous things. Breast Milk? I mean Ben and Jerry's is the Company to do it...at least you could come up with a lot of good names for the Ice Cream. Peanut Butter D-Cups, Perky Pistachio, you could do a surprise flavor called Victoria's Secret Recipe. The possibilities are endless.

The worst thing about this is that PETA is trying to get people to stop drinking milk from Cows. The argument is that cows are somehow being abused or harmed because we're using their milk? Peta knows this wouldn't mean the cows are going to stop producing milk right? Have you ever seen a cow that REALLY needs to be milked? It doesn't look that comfortable...but it's for the animals right? Brad Hook, you want to chime in on this one?

What's the Big Deal?

Someone's going to have to explain to me why a Hollywood actor is qualified to campaign for a Presidential candidate. Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Brandon Routh are coming to Iowa to campaign for Sen Obama. Now, I think all of these people are talented actors, I think they're probably smart, thoughtful citizens; I just don't know why anyone would value their political opinions over anyone else's?

If they were simply coming here to use their celebrity to get people of either party to register to vote...to encourage people to vote...I see the point.

I'm just not sure actors are the people we need leading the debate when we're talking about one of the most serious economic situations in the country's history and foreign policy ranging from war to nuclear proliferation. No one would show up to see an economist though.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

PWD

Bailout, Early Voting and Sheriff Brad

Good Morning,

For those of you who missed the Morning Show, you missed a good one. These are the mornings that make it fun to work on this show. We had a lot of news to talk about, and we had some lighter stories that helped us all stay loose and have some fun.

To The News
Bailout
The President spoke last night trying to take his case for a quick Bailout to the public. Who watched? How many of you buy what the President is selling? I'm listening to a conference call of Sen Harkin on the phone this morning railing against the bailout deal. I'm OK with people not liking this deal, I'm OK with people thinking it's the wrong thing to do. So what SHOULD we do? These are the kinds of debates that reveal the real character of our political leaders. If you don't agree, I respect it. If you can't do anything but complain or tear down an idea...what kind of leadership is that?
What about Sen McCain's move to "suspend" his campaign? Agree or disagree? I'll be interested to see what comes of the President's meeting with the two candidates today at the White House.

Brad
For those of you who didn't see, Brad had a run-in with a guy who was trying to steal from the Asian Market in Des Moines. He happened to be in the store buying something when the owner got into it with a guy who was trying to steal cigarettes. The guy started pounding on the owner and Brad stepped in. He held the guy in a choke hold for fifteen minutes until the Police showed up. It was caught on the security tape.
We had some fun with Brad this morning but we all made sure to tell him it was just a little kidding around. Can you really say what you'd do if you were put in the same situation?
What do you think each of us(Jeriann Brooke and I) would do? My wife likes to kid me that any fight I'm in would have to be like the scene in Anchorman ...("Rule #1: No touching of the hair or face...of course").


Early Voting
OK you've got no excuses. Early voting has started in Iowa so once you make up your mind...you can call your county auditor or go down to the office and vote!

Bailout and Fraud?, Firings Enough? and Energy Drinks Dangerous?

Good Morning!

I passed the fog off to Brooke and Jeriann this morning. Both say they feel like they're walking around and are "out-of-it".

I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. I'll credit a good workout for that. So...back to it. We're halfway through the week!


To the News:

Failure or Fraud?
Reality TV has nothing on Wall Street and the US Congress right now. Yesterday lawmakers gave the administration an earful, we found out the FBI is investigating some of the companies the government just bailed out, and Warren Buffett decided to throw a little cash into Lehman Brother (at least $5 billion). The FBI wants to know if the public was mislead about the financial health of these companies leading up to their current financial positions.
Now just for the sake of argument...someone explain this to me: If Buffett is getting into Lehman right now for Five billion...why does anyone think it's a bad deal for taxpayers to get in on it. This guy is a license to print money. I'd trust his instinct to invest.

Speaking of the Bailout, working mother magazine put some of the companies that are being bailed out on it's list of 100 best companies to work for. Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers were the two I saw.

Firings Enough?
We'll see if the University of Iowa's President is going to be blamed for the failed handling of sexual assault allegations. Sally Mason Fired two top administrators that were directly involved in the handling of Sexual assault allegations against two former Hawkeye Football Players. On the one hand you wonder if a person in the position of University President was in a position to change the outcome here. On the other hand, a failure of the process reflects failure in leadership. We'll see if the Regents think Sally Mason learned a lesson.

Energy Drinks
I'm not sure what scientists think a warning on the can will do to deter young people from drinking these things. I remember when Red Bull came out. There was some concern over using it to mix drinks. In fact, I think there was even a story out of San Francisco that some guy had a heart attack at a bar. Urban Legend or too many cheeseburgers I think...
To me it's like anything else. You have to see how something like caffeine or torrine is going to effect your body before you use it. As a parent I'd think you'd talk to your kids about the possible effects. If this one passes I'd also like to see warnings at all crosswalks telling people they could get run over, warnings on all bikes that say you can fall off, and signs on the front of buses that say, "This vehicle may hit you". Just pay attention, and you can greatly decrease the chance of any of those things happening to you.


Iowa Speedway announces it's new ticket price structure at 10:30 this morning
Democrats at the Statehouse annouce legislative plans for the 2009.
We should have an update on both for the morning show.

Cutting a Deal, Cubs Can Stay Home and Leachman Steals the Show

Good Morning!

I know we often complain about being tired but I don't think that covers it for me today. I'm not about to fall asleep, I just feel like I'm in a fog. Hope it didn't look like that was the case this morning, but I think it's just a hazard of the job.

To the News

Bailout Debated

Congress gets it's hands into the Wall Street Financial mess this morning with hearings on the Bush administration's bailout plan. Wanna see something really funny? Watch the congressional hearings on C-Span.. If you've never sat through one of these it's a treat. It's motivation to vote. The questions the congressman ask usually turn into 10 minute self-aggrandizing speeches with no questions at all. I'm sure some members of Congress understand the details of the current financial crisis. I'm sure some of them don't. I understand some politician's desire to see the taxpayers are protected. I just think it's funny that some of these men and women try to pass themselves off as financial experts in front of some of the smartest economists in the country.

Nevada Video

I wanted the video of an incident with a suspect in Nevada this morning and couldn't help but think there was something else an officer could have done to resolve the situation. Let me be clear, if an officer feels his or her life is threatened, I'd always support that officer defending him or herself. In this case a guy outside a squad car was running at a 4000+ lb vehicle with a knife. Could the officer have stopped when he saw the guy running at him? I am not a Police officer and I can't say what that officer felt at that moment; but if the guy attacked the car (tried to break the glass) doesn't the officer still have the advantage of being mobile? Doesn't he have a gun? I just wonder if there wasn't a way to deescalate the situation with the knowledge that the officers have two ways to backup their own safety.

Cubbies Clinch

Yes I know the Cubs clinched a playoff birth last weekend, last night they clinched the best record in the National League. So the road tot he World Series goes through Chicago. It's starting to feel like it's time to dream.

Leachman

I refuse to get sucked into Dancing with the Stars. I know the women I work with are going to. I just can't do it. Des Moines native Cloris Leachman was apparently a riot on the premiere. That's great. I hope she sticks around for a while. We've been pretty lucky getting locals on some of these reality shows. Seems like Des Moines has a rooting interest in a lot of them.

I'm going to go get a nap or dunk my head into a tub of ice water...something to try to clear the fog...

Hope you have a good day!

PWD

Murder Investigations, The Markets and The Cubs

It's Brooke here. Happy Monday! It's definitely feeling like one today here in the newsroom. Usually I feel refreshed after having a couple of days off, but this morning I feel like I was hit by a truck. I think a lot of it has to do with my weekend. There wasn't much downtime, but it was so exciting it didn't really bother me to lose a little sleep. This weekend, my parents, Eric, Evan and I traveled to Chicago for the Cubs game on Saturday. We left Friday night and didn't get in until about 12:30 and then came home right after the game. Talk about a lot of time in the car. But who can complain, right? It was a Cubs fan's dream come true to watch something that has only happened a few other times in the history of baseball. Evan was a little overwhelmed by the noise toward the end of the game, but I think he had a fun time just watching all the people. And, I got to watch Vince Vaughn throw out the first pitch of the game. Ok... on to the news.

Murder Investigations
What a violent weekend here in central Iowa. This weekend police in Ft. Dodge, Des Moines and Monroe County are investigating suspicious deaths and two of the cases involved someone dropping off the bodies at the hospital. In addition to those three investigations, police in Nevada are trying to figure out why a man was intentionally hit by a police car.

The Markets
Even though this story effects just about everyone and is leading a lot of newscasts lately... it's still hard to get my brain around everything that is happening on Wall Street. I think a lot of what's going on is only understandable to those who work in highly specialized financial businesses so it's hard to explain in a minute long news story. For example, this is what MSNBC had to say about the latest developments this morning. "The Federal Reserve said Sunday it had granted a request by the last two major U.S. investment banks — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — to change their status to bank holding companies. The change in status will allow them to create commercial banks that will be able to take deposits, bolstering the resources of both institutions."

Crystal Clear, right?

This is pretty complicated stuff and hopefully we'll make it understandable to our viewers because as one financial expert in the NY Times said today, it could be years before the financial state of our country is back in order.

Hope you all have a good day. See you tomorrow!

Brooke

The Biggest Bailout Yet, Magic Numbers and A Golf Holiday

Good Morning...

This is a morning full of significant nuimbers for me. I'll start with the first.

Ten years ago today I was probably as nervous as I've ever been to that point. The early part of the morning went a lot like it did this morning. I anchored a show and left work.
The difference ten years ago was my post work destination. I was off to Washington DC to ask Sally to marry me. I can't say my nerves settled at all that day. I know I wasn't as articulate as I'd been the million and a half times I'd practiced what I'd say when I asked her, but she said yes anyway. I'm a lucky guy.
To the News:

Biggest Bailout Yet

The Federal Government is apparently waving the white flag. The experts think things aren't going to get any better until the feds step in and take care of all of those faltering mortgages. SO a multi billion dollar deal to buy up faltering mortgages from banks across the country is set to be announced this morning. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced during the show that it was banning the practice called "short selling". The idea is that you bet a stock is going to go down. If it goes up I think you lose your money, but if it goes down and you were right...you make the difference.

Brad and I debated this on the set this morning. He says he's made money of short sales before. Great, but this has nothing to do with the fundamentals the market is based on. I'm not financial expert but this is the way I see it.

If I want to invest in a company I'm putting my money in to support that business. My investment is a way for the company to expand. If they do they make more money and I am a beneficiary when the company's stock goes up or splits.

In short selling, you're betting against a company. Fine, you might be right, but where is the money you're earning? What happened to create the cash you will now take out of the company

The financial markets aren't a slot machine. You can't put 40 bucks in and hope for three cherries. Unfortunately that's the way too many people are treating them. Stocks should be for long term investment. That's just my opinion.

U of I

The independent report says about what we expected. The University didn't handle the allegation of sexual assault against two of it's athletes well. There were miscommunications and misunderstandings up and down the chain of command. No cover up.

So the conclusion is that there wasn't a conspiracy, but you have to wonder how a University that was just coming off of the Pierre Peirce incident made mistakes like this?

Magic Numbers

The Cubbies pulled out an extra inning win over the Brewers and reduced the magic number to two. The Cubs can win the Division tonight if the Brewers lose to Cincinnati and the Cubs Beat the Cardinals. Either way I think they will win it this weekend, and how sweet will it beat to wrap it up against the Cards!

A Golf Holiday

If I'm brief today it's because I'm already watching the Ryder Cup. Along with the "Major Championships", this is the most fun I have watching golf. It's a much more interesting format because every hole can make such a big difference. The US is the underdog this week and I think they may lose. I'm still going to be in front of a TV most of the weekend.

Have a good morning and a great weekend. Stay safe and we'll see you back here Monday.

PWD

Market Worries, Palin in CR and U of I Investigation

Good morning! It's been a while since I've taken a stab at the blog, but today Pat asked me to do it so I guess that means I'll be returning to the Morning Buzz. Don't know about you, but this week I have been in a good mood and I can thank the weather department for it. The weather is perfect but probably short-lived so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Evan is now walking, or should I say running everywhere these days so we've had a lot of long days outside in the yard soaking up the sun and walking up and down the block.

Market Worries
There is something a little unnerving about all these financial institutions that are trying to secure bailouts and buyouts. Yesterday, AIG was the latest institution to get bought out by the federal government and today there are concerns about Washington Mutual. I think what is most scary about these challenging economic times is that no one really knows what's going to happen. You don't hear economists in the press saying things, "We will weather this storm" because no one is really sure if it is going to get worst before it gets better. Despite all the serious talk, Brian Williams, the anchor of Nightly News found a way to lighten the mood on his blog. This morning it reads, "I just spoke to a former managing director of one of the big Wall Street investment banks currently said to be "in play" -- who said he views this financial meltdown as "Wall Street finally sinking to the depths of our very sick national economy." Whether his assessment is correct or not can and will be debated -- for all of us huddled around CNBC's coverage here today, it's been another dicey day for this nation's financial underpinnings. By the way: congratulations on being the new owner of an insurance company.

As Brian Williams said, I guess we can consider ourselves stock holders in AIG.

Palin in CR
Dave Price got in early this morning to fly to Cedar Rapids to cover the John McCain and Sarah Palin. The Republican ticket is in Iowa for the first time and if past events with Palin are any indication, this will be a packed event. I think there is still a lot of intrigue of Palin and she is drawing large crowds wherever she travels. But not everyone is happy with the couple's itinerary. They are not planning to see flood damage and the former mayor of Cedar Rapids was pretty outspoken about this. He think they should see it in person since they might be at the helm as the government continues to figure out exactly how to help eastern Iowa from flood damage.

U of I Investigation
We'll get the results from the independent investigation conducted by a law firm in St. Louis today. They were hired to find out if the U of I followed proper procedure during the investigation into a sexual assault involving two former football players and a female student. A lot people felt the University didn't handle the whole thing very well. Today we'll find out what an unbiased, third party thinks.

That's all from me for now. I'm headed over to the Life 107.1 to do an interview that will air during the station's on-air fundraiser this week. Enjoy the day! See you tomorrow.

Brooke

Yemen, AIG and PETA tape

Good Morning
I'm not sure how the forecast gets any nicer than this. I should be out extending my golf season a little bit but it seems we're focused on getting the house ready for winter these days. For the record: I am the least handy person alive. Sally is a close second but if I had to put my money on someone in our house fixing something....I'd bet on her. So anyway, I'm trying to tackle the winterizing early this year. I usually wait and end up quitting because I feel so stupid trying to caulk or insulate or winterize anything. I've gone tot he professionals this year. We'll see how it goes.

To the News

Yemen
This news broke at about one thirty this morning. Our Producer Lisa debated it's place in our newscast before we came in...we talked about it once Brooke and I showed up and we decided it should lead off. I know most of us couldn't find Yemen on a map, but a US Embassy was bombed overnight. To me it simply underlines the continuing state of security in the world and is a good reminder there are a lot of people out there who would like to do harm to Americans, at home and abroad.

AIG
Financial Institutions in the USA continue to be held together with bubble gum and bailing wire. The latest stopgap comes in the form of $84billion of your money in a "bridge" loan to AIG. I'll stop there because that's as much as I fully understand. I will, however, give myself the idiot of the day award again. I had it in my head that the company that needed bailing out was ING...just down the street from us downtown. I'm not sure why...maybe I need that refresher on my vowels today. It is, in fact, AIG, based in New York that needed the Feds to bail it out.

PETA Tape
I woke up to read the Associated Press Exclusive story this morning about another undercover video filmed by PETA. They sent a worker into a Hog Farm in western Iowa. If you want to see it the video is already on YouTube, but I warn you, it's disturbing.
Don't get me wrong. I love pork, I understand that these animals aren't going to have a gold-plated lifestyle before being butchered and put on my plate. I do, however, think there's a humane way to treat animals grown for food. I also think most hog farmers do treat their animals humanely. This is not representative of all hog formers and the place where PETA loses most of us is the idea that, "If you eat pork...you're contributing to the abuse of these animals." It's a ridiculous blanket statement. Evidence of poor treatment on one Hog farm is not evidence of widespread mistreatment of animals in the industry.

A few other notes...The Cubs magic number is four and the Ryder Cup starts day after tomorrow. This could be a great weekend for me. Cubs clinching the division, and The underdog US squad pulling off a Ryder Cup win. A boy can dream.

Have a good one.
PWD

What Now? and What were you thinking?

Good Morning...
We're without Jeriann after this morning for the next few days. It's the first of what, I'm sure, will be many shifts in our meteorologists forecast over the coming months. There are only four of them so when someone is out for a while (Megan's maternity) the rest really have a lot of slack to pick up. So go easy on the Weather Department. They're working extra hard these days. Thankfully there's not much to say for the next week or so...just sunshine and temperatures near 80's.

To the news:
Wall Street: What Now?
Is anyone else looking for a gap in their mattress to stash some cash? I feel like every penny I'm putting into my 401k is simply being drained out by the end of the month. I know that's not how it works but it feels that way. Hopefully those of us who have a while to retirement are buying in a position of value right now and when the economy bounces back we'll have more stock to grow. It's still hard to look at that balance sheet at the end of each quarter.
If I'm right (and there's no telling when I take a calculator out) the market has lost about 23% of it's value since September of last year. Ouch! Maybe an interest rate cut will help today. We'll see when the market's open.

What Were You Thinking?
This award goes to two sports stars this morning. The first is to DeSean Jackson. The Eagles Wide receiver caught a long touchdown pass last night against the Cowboys but as he was streaking toward the goal line, Jackson forgot the rule that requires him to have the ball when he gets there.

He dropped the ball in a premature celebration then started dancing in the end zone. The Cowboys caught the flub and challenged the ruling on the field of a touchdown. The review showed Jackson was, in fact, stupid.

There should be a penalty, they should have given the ball to the Cowboys, something should happen to the showboats that litter professional sports. Act like you've been there.


The runner up to Jackson's stupidity is my own. I wrote the script about last night's Monday Night Football game in haste this morning. My brain was somewhere else and I wrote that the Eagles played the Giants for some reason. I got the second reference to the winning team (Dallas) right, but not before we'd both read it on air twice. My thanks to Melissa Hovde for pointing that out in an email.
Third place goes to Washington Redskins Tight End (no jokes please) Chris Cooley. Cooley writes a blog too. He wanted to show his bloggers how much homework they get before each game so he took a picture of the stack of materials he was reading pre-game. Cooley missed the fact that...he was naked at the time. The photos were posted on the blog for a short time before being taken down.
Now you see why I don't post pictures of myself on the blog...how will I ever remember if I'm wearing clothes?

And on that disturbing thought we'll wrap it up for another day.
Have a good one.
PWD

Market Mess, Wet Weekend and The Queen's Inglish

Good Morning...
As the reigning King of the typo here at Channel 13, it may strike some of you as odd that I spend a lot of time flinging stones from my house of grammatical glass at others.
We often use scripts written by other NBC affiliates. Many of these scripts use words and phrases that sound like they fit...but they don't.
Here are a few I've saved over the years:

-A WINTER BAG OF MIXED TRICKS SLAMMED INTO KANSAS CITY THURSDAY

-Prince Harry is often closely followed by paparazzi as he visits London nightclubs or bars in an effort to catch him in uncompromising situations.

-(from a WHO script) HEAR WHERE POLICE RESULTED TO RUBBER BULLETS TO CALM THE CHAOS AT A IMMIGRATION RALLY.

-FARM ANALAYSTS SAY THE TREND CAN BE CONTRIBUTED, IN PART, TO RECORD PRICES FOR COMMODITIES LIKE CORN

I share some of these because I was reading the The Sunday Register. It reprinted an article that appeared in other news outlets on spelling errors. Then, last night I was reading Golf Magazine last night/ This month, David Feherty wrote a funny column about the grammatical errors he sees and hears in the world of Golf Broadcasting. Funny stuff.
So I wonder if the article in the Register is right. Is (at least some of this) this just the normal evolution of a language? Should the sticklers for the use of the word "ironic" just get a life?

To the News:
Market Mess
Just when you thought it can't get any worse...it did. Overnight Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Bank of America swallowed up failing Merrill Lynch. They're talking about 30 billion dollars in shaky real estate or mortgage investments the company made that are now threatening to take the entire firm down. So what does this mean to you? Here's an article from Barrons that I'm not sure I understand. Here's an apocalyptic view from the Chicago Tribune.
I'm not sure what it means but I'm really thankful I don't have to retire in five years or less.

Wet Weekend
Hope you all had fun if you went over to Iowa City for the Iowa/Iowa State game. I was over in the Quad Cities Friday and for the Morning on Saturday. It rained on our golf outing...rained hard enough that I wasn't going to get my camera out. We were all just trying to slog through the rain...not really in the mood for photos. But we all had a great time anyway. Saturday morning they wouldn't even let us out on the golf course, so we went to breakfast at Denny's and hit the road a little earlier than we thought. That allowed me to get a second round in here in Des Moines where the rain had already stopped.

Megan's a Mom
Megan Salois had her baby over the weekend. Nathan Joseph is healthy and as happy as a newborn can be. So is his Mom and Dad. We wish them all the best in the next few weeks of discovery.

We're sooooooo glad to have Brooke back this morning from her week away. See I told you she'd be back. It's just not the same without all of us on the set in the morning.
Here's hoping your Monday is as good as mine is so far.
See you at Noon.
PWD

Hunker Down, Big Game Picks, and The National Reach of The Buzz

Good Morning
I always wonder who reads this thing. Turns out, we've got more people reading this thing in Chicago than just my blood relatives...
his particular one happens to be a friend. Bill Coyle and I met last year when my Uncle Jim introduced us at a golf outing. Bill emailed a few days ago and asked if this year's outing (which expanded from four guys to eight) would merit a mention on The Buzz. It does Bill.
I've been looking forward to this for weeks now. I'm getting my annual shot at TPC Deere Run in Silvis Illinois (just over the river in the Quad Cities). I also look forward to hanging out with good people and these guys are good people. One of my favorite things to do is to play golf with a group of guys, share a meal, some good conversation and then do it all over again the next day. You might think I'd have a hard time relating to a group of guys who have...how should I says this... a larger body of life experience....not a problem.
Maybe I'm just more mature...or these guys are...young at heart.
I'm going to lose on the golf course...the "old man" jokes are the only trump card I've got left.
Pics to follow Monday.

Ike
Stay or go? Depends on where you live along the Gulf Coast this time. In an effort to avoid the mess that happened during the Hurricane Rita Evacuation near Houston, The city is asking people who live near the coast to get out and the people who live in the city to "Hunker down". This will be Monday Morning quarterbacked as a great decision (cause there weren't big back-ups out of town) or The latest proof big cities like Houston still don't have disaster preparation down to a science. There's no right answer here. They're talking about a huge wall of water flooding the coast so leaving there is an easy decision. It would be harder if you lived in Houston. I wouldn't want to stay.
By the way, the Cubs series with the Astros was postponed till Sunday and Monday.

Game Picks
Lest anyone misunderstand, we were asked our opinion on this. I'll always tend toward my Big 12 loyalties(Missouri), but I think none of us have huge loyalties to either of the schools. I know people think we're either Hawks or Cyclones around here, but there are very few people on-air who have a history at either school. It makes it a lot more fun to watch I think. No Monday morning depression if your team loses. Mostly, I want a good game.

I hope you have a good Weekend.
PWD

Anniversary, Ike and I-35

Good Morning!

Lets get straight to it...

Anniversary
It's tough to know what to say every year when this day rolls around. It's like watching a movie when you know the end. You get the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. I'll leave it to someone else smarter than I am to talk about the significance of the 9/11 anniversary.


Ike
The Gulf Coast of Texas is boarding up, and getting out as Ike gets closer. I was reading the Chicago Tribune this morning and they had a story about the Cubs not wanting to make the trip to Houston this weekend. The Cubs are supposed to play a three game series and the owner of the Astros doesn't want to give up the revenue from the games and move the series to a neutral location. As a Cubs fan I vote the team does not fly into a massive system of severe weather.
I may just be a typical Cub fan but I keep waiting for the worst to happen to this team. I can see them getting caught in Houston for days with no way out, no electricity...having to forfeit games and losing the Pennant.


I-35
This was one of those moments, "you know you're in Iowa when..."
The interstate south of Des Moines was blocked for more than 109 hours today because a truck carrying hogs jackknifed and spilled...you guessed it...hogs, all over.
It took hours for them to clean up the mess. As of the writing of this the interstate is back open.

I have a trip over to the Quad Cities planned for Friday and Saturday. I meeting some friends to play golf. Based on Jeriann's forecast...I'm going out to buy a new rain suit.
We'll see you tomorrow morning!
PWD
Published early Friday morning cause Pat's too dense to press the "Publish button"

School Board, Sarah Palin Doll and No Time to Panic

Good Morning!

I haven't done the show without a co-anchor for some time now and I am reminded how hard it is...hard being a relative term here, I'm not doing any heavy lifting. Brooke has said it in the past and I agree. We have a great team and when one of us is gone for an extended period, it just makes you appreciate how good we have it.

To the News!

School Board

More than twice as many people came out to vote for School Board Elections than they did the last time around. That would normally signal a large change movement and might be bad news for incumbents. Not so in Des Moines.

I'm left to the conclusion that voters largely rejected the change argument being made by some of the challengers. I would bet some of the challengers would argue that voters were simply uninformed...they were duped.

So what's your opinion, are we just stupid, or did voters come out in larger than normal numbers to vote for the most qualified candidates they thought would work for the student of the District?

Sarah Palin Doll

Speaking of stupid, I said the Sarah Palin doll we showed on the air was stupid.

Now maybe that wasn't the best choice of words but someone mistook my comment for a criticism of the Republican candidate herself. On the contrary, I think it's the height of disrespectful to sell a doll of one of the people running for one of the highest offices in the country.

I think this is particularly disrespectful given one of the accessories for the doll is a "school girl" outfit. I don't think they're trying to insinuate that Governor Palin is studious.

I can't believe Republicans wouldn't be off the wall about this. It reduces one of the more accomplished women in politics to the status of...well...sex symbol. She may be beautiful, but I don't think that's the only thing attracting voters. She also has some ideas that people seem to be drawn to. That was my point.

Online Buzz

Regina Lewis was on for our consumer segment again this month and has some great tips for parents as the kids head back to school. For those of you who haven't seen her Lewis is AOL's Internet/Consumer expert.

She offers up a monthly satellite interview segment if we want to take it and we've started to on a regular basis. Sometimes her topics and her timing couldn't be better (We talked to her a day after the new iPhone came out).

Here are links to the topics she talked about today:

After-School Online Safety
http://www.safetyclicks.com/
Celebrity & Politics
http://www.popeater.com/
Quick Fix Dinners
http://living.aol.com/ & http://www.realsimple.com/
Growing E-Learning Trend
http://www.uopxonline.com/ & ClassesUSA.com

Sometimes the topics are useful but maybe not as locally focused as we'd like. So I'm going to ask you all to email in some topics to us. If you have a question about finding something online, about a new online trend that you're not sure about, or need some help navigating the sometimes confusing world of cyberspace...let me know. I'll email her and we can talk about the topics on our monthly segment.

Apple Apps

Speaking of technology, I've recently discovered the Apple "Apps Store". It's downloadable programs that go on an iPhone or iTouch. I have the iTouch and I think some of this stuff is great! I recently downloaded a program that turns your iPod into a level, some new games, a program offering interesting facts from "This day in history", a copy of the entire New American Bible for reference and a copy of the US Constitution. I say all of this because I wonder if any of you are using the iPhone or iTouch. If so, what are your favorite apps?

Green Habitat

Meagan Reuther had an interesting story this morning that she'll follow up on in our Renew Iowa segment tonight at 5. Habitat for Humanity builds homes for families who couldn't otherwise afford it. It's a cause most of us are familiar with. Now Habitat is taking on a "Green" building project. It costs more to build but in the long run could save the family who lives in the home on heating, cooling and energy costs. What good is a home if people can't afford to live there?

Hope you all have a good day,

PWD

Dead Heet, School Board, and Wake-up Call

Good Morning!

I want to make it as clear as I can to my dear friends in the WHO TV Sports Department, I had NOTHING to do with the wake-up in Ames this morning.

If you missed it, the Firefighters from Ames Station ## brought over all of their equipment and turned on enough sirens to wake the dead at about 6:30 this morning. Sorry if you live near Jack Trice.... I'll try to get our web mistress Kelly to post the video for us.

As always Keith is a great sport about the entire thing....Andy may never speak to me again, and well...Hassle may have just rolled over and gone back to sleep.

As always the RVTV antics are great fun. If you haven't checked out the Sports page...give it a look. They're on to Marshalltown tomorrow. I make no promises about the actions of our morning news team this week.

Dead Heet

The polls out Monday show a dead heet in the Presidential election. Anyone who expected anything different after both conventions were over was living in some alternate universe. I won't reprint the email here, but we were accused of being too liberal this morning with our story about Barack Obama's comments and the new polling out this week. I'll never be able to convince anyone of this but I really don't know who I'm voting for in November. It's funny a comment like this would come the week of the Cy-Hawk Showdown. The Sports Department gets the same emails about their loyalties resting with either the Hawkeyes or Cyclones. Truth of the matter is, our guys aren't fans of either school, they just want to see a good game. I'd say that's a good assessment of my hopes for the next two months.

School Board

Speaking of close races, it's almost sure to be a close race for the three open seats on the Des Moines School Board. We spoke with a former Board member about the responsibilities for this volunteer position and he said it well. A School Board Member goes into office thinking they'll have a great deal of influence over what goes on in the classroom and in reality, you have a very limited scope of influence on the District.

He also said this election and The Board itself of late, has become more about the personalities on the Board and less about the actual work of making sure kids get a better education. I hope whoever is election will try to call a little less attention to themselves and maker sure the focus stays clearly on the kids.

Have a good one

PWD

Fannie, Freddie, Ike and Bigfoot

Good Morning!

We've got a lot to talk to talk about this morning but first...I think we hired Bigfoot for some sort of job over the weekend.
Maybe my Fraternity brothers have moved into our studios. Is there another Teen Wolf movie shooting here in Des Moines that I'm not aware of? Is DMACC teaching a beginning forensics class in our Men's bathroom?
All of this is possible given the amount of hair on the sink in the Men's Dressing Room.
I'm no neat freak but no one likes to clean up anyone else's post-shave sink.
It was a great way to start the morning.

Actually, I got up on the wrong side of the bed to begin with...My alarm didn't go off until 2:55 this morning(that's an hour late).
I reset my alarm to get up Sunday morning and when I went to set it back to my normal Monday morning time last night... I just didn't wind it back far enough.
I think I've been doing this too long, because my late wake-up didn't produce the adrenaline laced panic it has in the past. I just shortened up my morning routine a little and got to work.

Fannie and Freddie
So the bail-out that everyone expected has finally come. I know a lot of companies and a lot of individuals screwed up to get the US housing market into this mess, but the question for me is, is it better to bail them out at taxpayers expense now or let the market do it's thing? I guess I'd fall into the bailout camp right now. This morning the dollar is up, stocks are up as expected.

No one Likes Ike
Ike is expected to lose strength over Cuba. Still the forecast for this thing isn't great for the Gulf Coast. Even if Ike stays on track and hits west of New Orleans, there's still going to be flooding concerns all over the gulf coast. And the Hurricane season isn't even close to over yet.

Flood Recovery
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in Iowa today looking at flood damage from our spring storms. Is anyone else amazed that this is the first time the Speaker of the House could get to Iowa for a tour of the clean-up. What she'll see today is significantly less that when the flooding first occurred. It would be easy for the country to forget the devastation caused by flooding and tornadoes here this spring. That said, it feels a little like the Speaker's visit might be an afterthought. I fully admit to having no idea what her schedule is and it's not like she can just drop everything and get here; but we're talking about a major flood relief funding package in Congress that makes an enormous difference to the people of this state. So, I'm left to wonder, should New Orleans and the Gulf Coast make Christmas plans for the Speaker's visit?

Presidential Polls
Sen John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin surged ahead of Sen Barack Obama and Joe (Biden of course it's Biden)Leiberman in the latest USA Today Poll out this morning. I'm not sure it means anything except this...it's going to be a close race and the addition of Palin to the ticket probably made it close. A year and a half ago I would have said there was no way a Republican could win the White House. Now it looks like a real possibility.



What's in a Title?
We had a mini debate I'd like your opinion on. We did a story this morning about a father and son who tread water for 15 hours near the Florida Coast after being swept out to sea. The two were separated by the current. The dad was rescued after 12 hours. It took the Coast Guard another two hours to find the boy.
The Coast Guard rescuers said they couldn't remember two people who'd been found alive after such a long time in the water.
Here's the hitch...the boy is autistic. Now our producer Jenny, who has an autistic son, left that detail out of the initial writing of the script. Jenny and Megan Reuther, who has an autistic brother-in-law, were talking about this when I walked back into the newsroom. Jenny felt like this was an amazing story regardless of the kid's autism. She made the point, "I wouldn't walk into a room and introduce my kids...'this is my daughter and this is my autistic son.'"
I tended to think that detail made the story even more remarkable. No wrong answers here, what do you think?

Da Bears
Last night's win in Indianapolis gives me hope for the year as a Bears fan. It's even more fun watching here in Iowa because Kyle Orton is the Bears' QB. I hope we'll get to see more of the Bears on Sunday because of that.

I'll add pics after I get back for the Noon.
Have a good one!
PWD

Game On, Stand Up to Cancer and Foggy Start

Good Morning!

Driving in you could see it this morning...not only was it really cool, it was foggy.
It's a cool view coming down Fleur drive around three in the morning...you can see the lights of the buildings just above the fog bank along the Racoon River, but it looks like Gray's Lake just dissapears. Hope you had a safe drive to work this morning...



Game On
When we started the week it looked like a hurricane was going to take all of the punch out of the Republican National Convention. Gov Sarah Palin made sure that didn't happen. Se John McCain was his usual self last night. Not the most inspiring speaker, but a lot like the elder President Bush, you have to respect a man with his history.
So this morning I've been reading a lot about what's next on the campaign trail. First things first for the National Media...they're apoplectic that Sarah Palin hasn't had a press conference. How dare she!
They'll get their shot at Sarah Palin. We'll see how she holds up. In the meantime I think it plays right into Republicans strategy that the Press is getting it's collective nose bent out of shape over her lack of press conferences. Did any of these guys listen to her speech Wednesday?

Text the Vote
There's a push again this year on College campuses across the country and here in Iowa to get younger voters out to the Polls in November. Text messaging is the basis of the push...maybe it'll work.
I remember in 2004, Howard Dean was going to win the Iowa Caucuses thanks to the young people in his campaign. College kids who so enthusiastically supported Dean didn't show up. Maybe they will this time. Maybe texting them a reminder to register will help remind them to vote. I get a reminder every election day and I still end up hustling down to my polling place late in the day because I forget.

Stand-Up
Not much choice on network TV tonight as all three major networks will be hosting the Stand-up for Cancer benefit. It's an hour long show that will raise millions of dollars for Cancer research. They've got just about every big name in music performing. Some of them will be performing songs composed just for this event. The recordings then won't be sold anywhere except iTunes. All of the money raised goes into the kitty for Cancer research.
The way they'll distribute this money is interesting as well. Dr Nancy Snyderman explained it on Nightly news last night. The money will go to so called, "Dream Teams" of Doctors and Researchers. They'll collaborate their efforts to come up with solutions for Cancer Treatment and prevention. You can watch tonight at seven on channel 13.

Should be a quiet weekend. I have plans Sunday to go up to Ames and try out the relatively new golf course up there called Coldwater. I know it's not "new" anymore, but I haven't played it yet. I'll have a review Monday.

Sarah Baracuda, Storms and RVTV

Good Morning...
The Republican National Convention hit high gear last night thanks to Sarah Palin...we'll see if that momentum can continue tonight.

To the news
Sarah Barracuda
I think we saw a bit of Governor Palin's personality last night and why she got that nickname in High School. The attacks weren't shrill...they were softened by Palin's folksy delivery.
I am struck every time I hear her speak how many times she will phrase something that you know will resonate with Mothers and fathers across the country. I'm not sure how much that's going to matter when people actually go to vote, but I know more than a few people who've said it makes them want to listen more.
We didn't hear a lot of specifics about what she wants to do, but I think we got a sense that this is a woman with the potential to be a formidable candidate. We'll see if she can live up to that over the next six weeks. I thought most of the coverage was fair. I thought the New York Times columnist that tore Palin apart was condescending and at times took cheap veiled swipes at the candidate. Stick to reviewing TV shows.

Storms
I'm not sure if anyone else is even paying attention but I almost fell out of my chair when Brian Williams announced the news that Hurricane Ike went from a Category 1 storm yesterday morning, to a category four storm by the end of the day. It may not be on anyone else's radar screen but I'm just fascinated by stuff like this. I hadn't seen any forecasts that had Ike growing that large, that fast. Forces of nature like this are amazing.

RVTV
Anyone have any ideas for an encore to last year's RVTV wake-up call? We used the band last at ISU last year and I don't think the boys in Sports were all that happy. But it was goooood TV. The boys will be a moving target this year, starting in Ames, moving to Marshalltown and the square the next day. They'll be in Oskaloosa Thursday then Friday in Iowa City. Feel free to schedule your appearance on RVTV at one of these locations.

Have a good day,
PWD

Palin's Big Speech, School Funding and Studies

Good Morning!
Apologies to my Dad who, when he tried to access the Morning Buzz blog, got kicked out of his web browser altogether. We'll have to get IT on that. He left me a message yesterday afternoon while I was napping...hopefully Chicago has the technical difficulties fixed as of this morning.
If we look like we're not paying any attention over the last few days it's that we've had some interesting discussions about news stories while we're in commercial break or while Jeriann's doing the weather.

So lets talk about it...

Palin's Big Speech
The speculation over Sarah Palin's readiness for the national spotlight should, at least in part, be put to rest tonight. She is the headline speech tonight for day three of the Republican National Convention. After a slow start because of hurricane Gustav, last night looked a lot more like a political convention in St Paul. So what, in your opinion, does Governor Palin have to do tonight to convince you she's ready to lead the nation...not just Alaska. Are you already convinced?

School Funding
In my hometown of Chicago, there's quite a debate going on about school funding.(Read the article in the Chicago Tribune about the protest here)
A Southside Chicago Pastor and State Senator named James Meeks led a boycott of the Chicago Public Schools yesterday. He led about 40 buses from the Southside of Chicago to a district on the North Side called New Trier. It happens to be the district I grew up in.
Meeks and his fellow protesters are trying to point out the disparity in school funding in Illinois. That funding is based on property taxes. The higher the value of homes, the more funding schools can get. The result is a district in the Nothern Suburbs where they spend about $17,000 per student. In the Chicago Schools they spend about $11,000 per student. For reference sake that's about what the Des Moines Schools spend per pupil too.
You can see the inequity.
I agree kids deserve to have an equal opportunity at education. But for me it's not that simple.
My family struggled to get by financially living in that district but my parents made the choice to struggle because they knew the community valued education. It was a community wide culture.
I agree with the spirit of the protest. School funding needs to be more equitable. More than that though, I think Illinois needs to find ways to help communities around the Chicago Public Schools create a culture that values education. The result might not just be better schools, it might be better neighborhoods and economic development in them.
The money isn't enough and isn't a silver bullet.

Studies
We had some interesting ones this morning. First...it seems if you smoke you are at higher risk of having a heart attack sooner. The study also concluded that breathing in and out is good.

A second study found men have a "Cheating Gene". Read the article...do you agree?

The third study is close to our hearts here on Today in Iowa...It seems those of us who don't get eight hours sleep feel more awake during the day. It's the Dopamine. Our brains produce more of it. Now, that doesn't mean we can actually function any better. The study, and our own personal experience here on the morning crew confirms; when you don't get enough sleep...thinks like speech, and motor skill go away. How much sleep do you need to feel like you really are going to get through the day without feeling tired?

On that note, I'm going to get a quick nap before the Nooner.
PWD

SOnya in N.O., and Palin's Daughter

Good Morning...

Hope you all had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. We wrapped ours up with dinner at some friends house. They were watching the 80 hours of the 80's on VH1 I think? We showed up around W. I got the "keen eye of the night" award for spotting Din Cheadle in an 80's video from Angela Winbush's called "The Real Thing"....to top it off I hadn't seen a Weird Al Yankovic video in years. Just Eat it.

Sonya in N.O.

Our kudos go out this morning to Sonya Heitshusen reporting from New Orleans this week. It's hard to go out of town in an unfamiliar place and do any kind of reporting...throw in that you're covering a major weather event and there are some challenges. Some people have written in to ask why we sent her down there when everyone is evacuating? We did it because she can offer the perspective of an Iowan. We hope that makes it more relevant to the people who live here. Her observations and reporting will no doubt be different than that of the networks or other reporters down there. Sonya has the added benefit of having spent time in New Orleans after Katrina, which makes her really valuable moving forward as the city comes back.

Palin's Daughter

Jeriann referenced a heated conversation we were having off air this morning so I thought I'd fill you in and let you discuss. I won't say who was advocating each position...it's enough hat we had a spirited discussion on the topic.

So the conversation started when one of us walked in to the studio and proclaimed that Sarah Palin was unqualified and her daughter's pregnancy out of wedlock was more proof. This person said her lack of experience in the political world should be reason enough for voters to pause and consider that she may not be really to be ready for the role of Commander-in-Chief.

Another person stated they didn't think the Palin revelation was that big a deal and that it was more Media hype than anything.

A third person jumped in and voiced the idea that people might consider it a lapse in judgement for McCain to have picked someone without fully vetting her past. The person went on to say that the race was more interesting for all of the headlines and new details coming out every day. there was then some agreement that Sen Obama's response to Palin's daughter's pregnancy was the right thing to say and do.

Finally, someone said none of this disqualified Palin, that none of us really know her right now and that we should reserve judgement until closer to Election Day.

I work with smart, thoughtful people who generally pay attention to the things around them. I enjoy getting into a good debate with them and in this case, a lively discussion went on right up to the point they brought us all back out on camera for our weather segment.

Add to the debate if you like...but as with our morning crew..respect the opinions of the people who write in here. Try to convince one another all you like...but respect the opinion of the other guy/gal.

Have a good day.

PWD

Gustav, The Guard and the GOP

Good Morning!
Hope most of you have the day off. We all worked this morning...really because we had nothing better going on. Brooke said this morning, and I agree, it's not bad working holidays like this. Usually it's hard to fill up two hours worth of news but not today. The eye of Gustav is almost to New Orleans as I write this and the Republican National Convention is supposed to start today...so Even on "a day off" there's a lot to talk about.

Gustav
Sonya Heitshusen is in New Orleans reporting for the group of stations we belong to. I talked to her around three this morning and it was hardly raining and by the time we saw her on camera this morning, she, and New Orleans were getting soaked. That's going to be the problem in New Orleans. The winds are high, but the rainfall and storm surge may be the bigger problem.
I just had a very pleasant conversation with a woman on the phone complaining about an interview on the Today show. He basic point was that the Media tries to place blame and rehash Katrina at a time when New Orleans is dealing with a new storm. While the lessons of Katrina are important, her take was that Democrat, Republican , State, Federal and City all had a share of the blame for the failed response to Katrina. It doesn't do much good to re-live that storm unless it's in the context of dealing with this one. It was an interesting call from a level headed and fair minded viewer.

Guard
What would the country do without the Men and Women of the Iowa National Guard?...really!
I think about that every time they're sent off to another part of the country or the world. Think about it. Most of our guard members have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan multiple times..They've gone to Bosnia for peacekeeping, They went to The gulf once already for Katrina...they've done border patrol duty and have served in a number of capacities stateside. Then there's the work they've done here in Iowa. When flooding and tornadoes devastated their own home towns...The guard was there again. I know it's their job, I know they know what they're getting into when they sign up. I'm just glad there are people who take the time and make the commitment in the face of so many unknowns.

GOP
Is it the right decision to scale back the Republican National Convention? The decision came this weekend. We know the President won't be speaking tonight and I think that's the right decision. We know Republicans will be talking about how to help people on the Gulf Coast effected by Gustav. We are still waiting to hear if Sen John McCain will accept his party's nomination in person or via satellite from the Gulf Coast.

Gaffes
Friday's blog is a reminder, don't believe everything you read. My apologies for the inaccuracies. I was sitting across from Sonya who was reading the Supreme Court ruling on traffic cams. She mistakenly took the written dissent and the actually ruling. turns out the court upheld the cameras as a legal way for cities to enforce traffic laws.

So I hope most of you are enjoying your day off. We'll see you back here tomorrow.