Vacation1, Vacation2, Vacation3

Good Morning!
The Winter storm slowed down a little and that means more of the day will be OK to travel on Iowa roads. That's good news for people who can't get on the road till they get off work. I always feel badly for those folks. they have little control over when they can leave and are at the mercy of Mother Nature getting to family and friends for the Holiday.
Drive safely!

Vacation 1
At least everyone who has to work the holiday here at Channel 13 will have a lot to talk about. As the storm slowed down overnight, it started to become apparent that Christmas Eve and even part of Christmas Day we'd be cleaning up. AAA says 92 million Americans will be traveling for Christmas...80% of those will be on the road. Be careful and use the information the Iowa DOT provides. No Christmas party is worth going into a ditch over.

Vacation2
The President is in Hawaii today to start a vacation with his family. He had a series of "victories" in Washington before he left. The National Press made it out to be some sort of comeback after the national election. It may have had something to do with so many members of congress not having to answer to voters anymore. Either way I don't really care. I like it when the two parties can get together on something. It seems the last two years have been full of endless hearings, news conferences, pontification and bluster...but not a lot of actual work. We'll see what the Republicans can muster when they take control of the house.

Speaking of the Feds:
Many of you likely saw this yesterday on Facebook but I wanted to share. The CIA is putting together a task force to look at the implications of the Wikileaks release of clasified Diplomatic cables on national security. Predictable they named the task force. The Wikileaks Task Force. This being the government, they've got to use the acronym. WTF. Indeed.

Vacation3
This on refers to my vacation. I'm off until the end of the year. We'll be hanging around town so if you see a guy that looks like Otis from the Andy Griffith show...it may be me.
I plan on relaxing as much as possible over the next week and a half. I'm looking forward to Christmas in our new home with he boys, my parents, my sister, Sally's parents, friends and other various and sundry characters.
I'm ending my 12th year at WHOTV and I am, as I have always been, grateful to be working with such great people.
I have a co-anchor who keeps me grounded and positive....
A Meteorologist who keeps us on our toes and is always looking for ways we can improve our show.
We have a traffic guy with more personality in his right pinkie than most people have in their whole family.
A reporting/videography crew that works harder in three hours than most people do in a full day...
Producers that work overnight shifts, rarely complain and still manage to turn out a great show every day...
and a Production staff that makes us look better than we deserve most of the time.
I am very fortunate, and look forward to another great year in 2011!
Hope you have a good one too!
PWD

Census, Do you Wanna Dance, and Moondance

Good Morning!...The answer is No. Jeriann is not out because she had her baby. She's just off for Christmas...the baby comes in January.


To the News

Census
So we get a count of the Population...how appropriate at Christmas right?
The Census preview we had showed some states losing congressional seats but didn't name Iowa. That doesn't mean the predictions of Iowa going from five seats to four won't come true. We will await the numbers.



Da Bears
NFC North Champions isn't something I thought I'd be able to say about the Bears. Any playoff advancement at this point would be a bonus.

Do you Wanna Dance?
I expect Kevin Bacon and Sarah Jessica Parker to come out and start reading Bible verses about dancing after reading the Des Moines Register this morning. Johnston HS parents are worried about the type of dancing some of the kids are doing. it wasn't just one person either and they didn't sound like they wanted to see kids dance with enough room for the Holy Spirit between em. These were parents that said they basically witnesses some softcore porn at a HS dance.
I'm of two minds about this one. My first reaction was...is it REALLY that bad? Grinding your date isn't exactly new. Ask Jennifer Grey.
My second reaction was as the future parent of a teenage boy. I admit to hoping my boys play sports and don't recognize that girls exist until they're ready to go to college. That side of my is horrified that a kid this age would do something like that in public.
So my brain comes down in the middle of this. Turn up the lights, get more parents to come to the dances. Are kids really going to do this in front of their parents or their parent's friends? Even if they do...you can tell em to stop. This is one where you'll know it's wrong if you see it.



Moondance
Brad says he saw the Lunar eclipse when we was coming in this morning. I didn't notice and wasn't expecting to because I thought it would be cloudy. the cool part of this event, to me, was the timing. A lunar eclipse like this hasn't happened on the winter solstice since the mid 1600's, and won't happen again until 2093.


Hope you all have a good day!
PWD

Standoff, DADT, and Judges Lawsuit

Good Morning...
We begin our Holiday week with a little breaking news and plenty of controversy to end the year.
I got tweaked again for calling the Girls...Girls.
A woman called Friday to say she didn't want me to call Brooke and Jeriann "girls". She said she used to work as a nurse. She said when she was still working, the Nurses struggled to get the Docs to call them "Ladies"...and not "Girls". I've posted these thoughts before but here's my take.
I have more than a professional relationship with Brooke and Jeriann. They are my friends and my colleagues. Just like a woman might say she is going to dinner with "the girls" when referring to her friends, I would say the same about my friends here.
More to the point, wasn't the Nurse's request intended to change of behavior, not words? If I behave with respect toward you isn't that the desired outcome...actual equality?
Sometimes I feel like we get caught up in debates like this and it overshadows actual issues of equality. At one time, these types of embedded culture were very important to debate. Those debated helped change culture. We'd all look sideways at someone in an office setting if they called a female colleague "sweetie".
There is certainly still discrimination of all kids in the workplace, but if you ask younger workers, I think they'd tell you we enter the workplace on a largely equal footing. In saying this I'm intending no disrespect to the women who forwarded important issues and fought cultural stereotypes in the American workplace. The good news is their efforts are bearing fruit now.


To the News:
Standoff
Thanks to Roger Riley and Megan Reuther for putting together this overnight news. It looks like a domestic situation got out of control. A lot of us talk about Holiday stress...and it may be for us . There are a lot of people who have even more serious trouble with the Holidays and depression or stress. I'm not aware that was the situation here but it's a reminder of that possibility.

DADT

This was a misguided law to begin with. It's long past time for it to be repealed. Now here's my question. A LOT of people are in favor of letting openly gay men and women serve in the Military. If they're willing to die for their country, the thinking goes, they should be able to do that.
So why is it OK for these Men and Women to die for our freedom, yet it's not OK for them to enjoy the same freedoms and rights the rest of us do?
Much like the issue of equality in the workplace this issue of the rights of gay men and women will become a non-issue as the years go by. Younger people don't care. They realize that now law, is going to change the facts. These people are gay. Ignoring that is not going to make them go away.

Judge's Lawsuit
This feels a little bit like sour grapes. If the law wasn't followed I guess they should vote again, but do we really think the outcome is going to be different? I would guess even more people would be mad about having to vote again.

Worst of the Best
I love Christmas music and agree with a lot of people...it's hard to dislike any of it. That said, there are a lot of...less than desirable versions of Christmas songs. So do you have a "best of the worst"?

Hope your Holiday week is beginning well.
PWD

Passed, Presents and the Near Future

Good Morning!
Brooke and Jeriann are off for the next week for Christmas. Merry Christmas ladies!
...But, damn you Brooke Bouma! She was nice enough to bring in cake balls this morning...my God they're good...and RICH! I worked my backside off at the gym last night trying to reverse course on the SS Weight gain. Unfortunately my Titanic stomach hit an iceberg with Brooke's cakeballs.

To the News
Passed
What are we going to talk about in Washington if we're not talking about this tax deal. In the end a lot of the bluster we heard from House Democrats was just that..a lot of hit air. Can Washington stop wasting my time with the manufactured drama now? Another two years of compromise where no one is happy would look pretty good to me.

Presents
Boxes have started to show up at our house and we don't know who they're for. We assume our children because people love them more than they love us now(I'm just kidding Mom, I'm just kidding!). So for any of you that have sent a random Christmas gift to my house...thank you!

Ghosts
I think we've figured out where the ghosts are coming from in our new house. Lights and fans have been turning on at random intervals in our bedroom and the sun room. It worries me a bit. I wondered if we had some loose wiring that might spark a fire...nothing to mess with. Turns out we've got two remote controls for the ceiling fans and they're on the same frequency. We've been furiously trying to make the one upstairs work before bed and I think we've been turning on the one downstairs. It freaks me out when I come down in the middle of the night and the fan and lights are on.

Mrs B
Got some sad news from my sister this morning.
About the time I met my future wife I was an awkward seventh grader entering Wilmette Junior High School. I was lucky to have a lot foo great teachers that encouraged me, but on that unknowingly put me on a track to be in front of a camera for a living was probably Camille Bertagnolli. She was the music teacher and she was GREAT. This came in my email from my sister who is now a teacher in the Wilmette Schools:

Please join us in expressing our sympathy to the family of Camille Bertagnolli.
Camille taught music at WJHS during the 1980's and early 1990's. After Camille retired, she moved to Door County, Wisconsin. She was very active in community music programs in Wisconsin and was the founder of the East Wind Conservatory in Door County, Wisconsin. At WJHS, Camille was a greatly loved music teacher who was able to bring the best out of students, especially students who were not inclined to sing. Camille passed away on August 22, 2010.

I was inclined to sing but didn't have a lot of inclination to be a leader. She was one of the first adults that convinced me I could be a leader if I wanted to.
RIP Mrs B.

Near Future
Today begins the run up to Christmas and as I said, for me this year it means a week without Jeriann and Brooke before I go on vacation myself. I have high hopes it will go quickly. this is the first time in our lives that Sally and I will spend Christmas away from Chicago. Time to start some new traditions with our new family and they're all being gracious about making the trip to Des Moines. But we've got a lot to do to make sure the near future goes smoothly. It's not that it's hectic work. Sally has taught me over our marriage that it's a lot more fun doing all the work beforehand so when your guests arrive, you can be part of the party.

Hope you all have a good weekend!
PWD

Hawkeye Perspective, Estate Tax and New Addition to the Family

Good Morning!
We had two great stories in our newscast. Another soldier came home for the holidays and surprised his family near Cedar Rapids. Those never get old.
We used the second story as our Facebook question this morning. Anonymous donors gave $100,000 to the Art program at Lynville-Sully HS after the teacher put out a plea for more supplies. We wanted to know, if you had $50,000 to give anonymously, where/who would you write the check to?
Think about that while we offer you some other tidbits


Hawkeye Perspective
Is it fair to blame Coach Kirk Ferentz for all of the problems in the Iowa Football program? Well, some would says he's the leader...he's the CEO.
I thought a co-worker had an interesting perspective on this though. He pointed out that in our building, we've got about 60 employees. Our General Manager(The Boss) probably knows most, if not all of them by name. He doesn't know who their roommates are, he doesn't know what they do when they're not inside 1801 Grand. Ferentz has 150 players, plus staff. Now, this wasn't just some walk-on...it was one of his best players allegedly wrapped up in using and selling some pretty hardcore drugs.
Still, before people decide what Ferentz "should" or "shouldn't" have known...a little perspective.

Estate Tax
Someone explain to me why this would be a good idea.
I don't care who you are, I don't care what your economic circumstance is; no one has the right to come in and take money you've accumulated over a lifetime. Ask a Farmers. They'd be hurt if Democrats got their way.
Even more interesting was some quick research I did on the Estate Tax. Originally this tax was set up on estates over $50,000 in 1917. In today's dollars the article said that would be more like $11 million. The tax started at 1% at that amount and went up to 10% on estates over $5 million. That would be a billion dollars in today's money.
Some of you will be thinking...it doesn't matter how much you tax someone's estate after they die, it's too much! If that's your argument I have one more thought. One of the arguments made for tax cuts on higher incomes is that those people are the ones creating jobs and driving the economy. Fair enough.
So why not have a SMALL tax on a large estate, accumulated over a life where the Government has given your higher income (or small business income) a tax break so you can succeed and pass on some of your success to the next generation? I'm not advocating the 45% tax Democrats are proposing, but on 11 million dollars, why not a 1% tax?
Some of you will argue the merits of ANY taxes but I am offering these thoughts in the real world. We have a tax system, and I'm talking about give and take.

To that point...
A friend posted this article on Facebook about who actually stimulates the economy when given a tax break.
Turns out the Congressional Budget Office found it was the wealthy and lower income earners that actually spend when given more disposable income. The middle does not spend...they save.
Under that argument, the "middle class" should actually be shut out of the tax breaks. Of course, then politicians couldn't try to convince you they're doing this "for middle class Americans"
Also I was talking with Brad today about why it may be in the best interest of higher income earners to pay more in taxes (they already do). It's called "The veil of ignorance".
The term came from John Rawls. Here's an article I found explaining the concept.

Rawls’ solution was what he called the veil of ignorance. Assume that you arrive
at the bargaining table with no knowledge whatsoever of your social status,
economic power, ethnicity, religion or gender. Then, asks Rawls, what kind of
society would you want to set up? The answer, he argued, is a society that would
guarantee maximum liberty equally distributed among its members, as well as an
equal distribution of wealth and power, unless there are situations where some
sort of unequal distribution would favor everyone and if everyone had an equal
opportunity of being so favored.

That's why I accept the idea of higher earners paying (slightly) more in taxes. If used properly, it would help everyone.
If your head is now spinning after reading a defense of cutting the Estate Tax and an explanation of John Rawls in the same blog...well, I told you it wouldn't be easy to describe my politics.


The Heat is on!
Thanks to the folks at Green's Heating and cooling we are back in a warm house and operating more efficiently. Heath, our tech, was great. He got his work done quickly and even worked around the boy's nap schedule. They slept well, the house held enough heat so we didn't freeze and now I've got a boiler system that works the way it's supposed to.

I hope you all have a good day. I'd love to hear your comments...
PWD

Rumor Mill, Those Activist Judges and Snowblowing

Good Morning!
Lots to talk about this morning....It's been a while so a little of this will be catching up.


Rumor Mill
I won't pretend to know anything about what's going on in Iowa, but from an outsider it starts to appear where there's smoke, there's fire. There's a 10AM news conference this morning. I am interested to hear why both the Head Football coach and Athletic Director need to be part of this.

Those Activist Judges
A Federal Judge in Virginia declared part of the Federal Healthcare Law unconstitutional. I'm waiting for the outcry.
Let me see, a Judge or Judges rules that part of a law passed by a group of lawmakers is unconstitutional.
I think I remember some Iowans who were pretty upset over "A judge circumventing the will of the people and overturning a law passed by the elected Representatives of the people!"
I highly doubt anyone upset over the Iowa Marriage decision would be upset over this ruling.
Before you shoot off emails telling me that these are two different issues...I agree..they are. My point is, the people who were so upset about "one unelected official, who's accountable to no-one, overturning decisions make by elected officials accountable to their constituents" can't just pick and choose where to make that argument.
In that way, this case is the same.

Snowblowing
I asked on Facebook today...how early is too early to use a snowblower. There were a few people who told me I could fire the thing up at 2:30 when I'm getting ready to leave.
I don't think I could do that to my neighbors. What do you think.

iPhone or Droid
I'm torn up. My contract is up with a certain large nationwide wireless carrier in January. When it's done I could choose to go with another carrier that's got exclusive rights to the iPhone. I could also wait for my carrier to get it's version of the iPhone. I am reading there will be a version out by late January at the earliest and March at the latest.
Make an argument for what you think the best decision would be.

Cards and Letters
Christmas cards are showing up at our house and we're posting them on our Kitchen wall. It's so great to see how families grow, How your old friends are doing...even getting a quick Merry Christmas is great. We've had a debate for a while in our house about the Christmas letter. Should you write a personal note to each person you send a Christmas card to? Is a form letter enough? What do you think.

The boiler guy is coming, we hope, to fix the problems we've had heating our house evenly. It's gonna be cold in my house today until he's done. Wish me luck.
Have a good one
PWD

Happy Friday!

Good morning. It's Friday! Jeriann says she is giving today a 10. This is going to be her early Christmas present to central Iowa. I am looking forward to getting outside and letting Evan run around for a while. I think it will do us both some good.

I think we are going to the Jolly Holiday Lights tonight and getting a picture with Santa. Can you believe we only have 2 weeks until Christmas. I still have to do all of my shopping.. not just some of it... all of it. No stress here! :)

Hope you have a great weekend. See you on Monday!

"Rich", Feller and My Friday

Good Morning!
I realized about half way through getting ready this morning that this is my LAST day of the week! Awesome!
Sally and I are taking the day to make sure we've got Christmas in order before our families come for the holiday. That will look something like a trip to the Mall. Say a few Hail Marys for me.



To the News:


Rich
In this debate over tax rates (and lets be clear it's about tax rates, not tax breaks), the words "rich" and "middle class" are being thrown around a lot. So I asked people what their definition of "rich" is. In true Iowa fashion, most people answered that their lives are "rich" because of the people in it.
I agree, and feel the same way, but I was asking about a bottom line number.
The responses to that question were fair as well. It's a moving target. A lot of people said if you make $50k you want to make $100k, if you make $100k, you want $150k...you get the point.
What do you think? What's the point that you can pay all your bills, save for your future and still have enough leftover to buy the stuff you want.

Feller
This morning news about the health of Baseball Hall of Fame and Iowa Native Bob Feller is a study in how the Internet and social media can get out of control. One paper outside of Cleveland posted a story on its website that said Feller had died. The obituary was actually a well written , but no one will ever remember that. They going to remember this paper posted an obituary for a man that was still alive.
We talked about it and after some very good counsel from our Sports Director decided not to run the story. Keith was actually up all night long watching the news. I thought it was just jet lag from his trip to Italy. He says it was a little more than that. He was fascinated by the momentum built up for the story about Feller dying, simply because this one paper posted it as fact.

-Had a great breakfast with some WHO-TV alumni. They've started their own Media company and I couldn't be happier for their success. All deserve it.

We'll see if I can get through the Nooner.
Have a great day and a good weekend. I'm back Monday.
PWD

Cake and coffee

Good morning everyone. Pat told me I get to do the blog today in honor of my birthday. Actually, he was joking. He had to leave a little early and I told him I would take care of the Morning Buzz.

Today is my birthday and at 8:41 a.m. it's been great so far. Mainly because I got to eat cake. And this wasn't just any cake. This was award-winning cake. Jeriann picked it up at a place in Valley Junction called Let Them Eat Cake. I usually don't like cake frosting. You know the kind I am talking about with all the sugar and Crisco. But this cake had the most creamy frosting I have ever tried. And since I am Dutch, Jeriann got the almond flavored cake. It was out of this world! Megan Reuther thought it was so good she said, "I am so glad you were born." Anyway, it was very thoughtful and a wonderful way to start the day. Oh, and I should mention Brad Ehrlich got me Starbucks today. Went very nicely with the sweet treat. And, Pat got me something I'll have to wait until 5:00 to indulge in: champagne! Thanks everyone!

And, I have to admit it's been fun seeing all the Birthday wishes on Facebook. Kind of nice getting a message from friends you haven't talked to in a while.

The news..
The headline this morning was the arrest of Hawkeye Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. Police found cash and drugs in his apartment. And he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana. I thought Shawn Terrell's blog on Murphy's Law was really good. Even as reporters, we can still be surprised and disappointed by the people we cover in the news.

That's all for now. Have a great "hump day" as Jeriann would say.

Deals and Drips

Good Afternoon...
It's been a battle to get on the computer for the last two days. I had to change my password. It seems we have to change them all the time. So I changed the password but it seems none of the systems got the message. I tried to log on again...no dice.
So after a frustrating and less than productive 24 hours...I'm back.


The News:

Deals
If the President continues this kind of course, I think he might confound the experts and get elected for a second term.
The President compromised, and so did Republicans. I think most Americans would says they agree with that concept. There will be people who say the President caved...that he got beat. We always like to have a winner and loser. I disagree.
Do you think most Americans are going to care that EVERYONE'S tax rate stays they same? No. They care that THEIR tax rate stays the same. So in this deal...The President's compromise makes a lot of people happy.
The reaction from Congress was a study in what's been wrong with the leadership for the last four years. They're mad. They want a fight. I don't care about your fight...I care about my tax rate.
If the President wants to, I think he can regain control of his own party here. He'll have to share the spotlight with Republicans but he can also get compromise out of Republicans and might even get something done. What are Dems going to do? Complain? They'll look like idiots.
Ken Root makes one more point. A lot of these Democrats aren't going to be around for the next Congress, so you might see a few of them throw a grenade or two into this compromise so it doesn't happen. That'll make Democrats popular.

Drips
I went to put make-up on today. You've heard the exercise we have to go through to get ready for the show. One of the steps is shaking the bottle of make-up. I swear the top was screwed on...It's a new bottle. Before I knew what was happening...there was make-up everywhere including my pants.
What a drip.

I hope you have a good day!
PWD

CHRISTmas, Cute Babies and Ronnie

Good Morning,
Sorry I am getting to this a little late...it gave me time to collect my thoughts about this thing with the Christmas trees.
I appreciate all of your comments on the Facebook page. We love to hear what you're thinking. After reading this story and shaking my head a few times I think I came to a realization this morning. Maybe we're framing a solution to this untimely tree-trimming in the wrong way.

People who object to Christmas trees because they feel it brings religious overtones to public school are within their rights to voice a concern. I understand the argument, I really do.

People who complain about Christians getting the short end of the PC stick have a real beef too. Is there really something that offensive to you about someone coming up and essentially saying, "Peace on earth...Good will toward Men"?

Both extremes of this argument end up sounding a little shrill to me. I thought, there has to be some middle ground.
Someone is going to have to explain to me the problem with decorating a school appropriately during any holiday season (not just the Christian ones).

Why can't this be a learning opportunity? The school does not have to advocate a religion. This doesn't have to be majority rule. It just has to stay appropriate. A tree falls within those boundaries.
Traditional Songs don't just declare religious beliefs, they are a tool to learn about history and culture. Would anyone who studies the arts be better off not hearing or singing a Shubert Mass? We did that piece in a concert Choir in High School and learned about Schubert!
There's a story to be told about the writing of the song Silent Night.
I learned about Jewish traditions when we sang songs about the Maccabees.
Would it be the worst thing in the world for our children to know how to pronounce Yom Kippur (does not rhyme with Yum Gipper)?
How about a little more understanding of Ramadan? I know I could use a little knowledge.

But it will take a School District risking it's legal budget and make the harder choice. It will take adults putting in extra effort to make sure that concepts behind all of these religious traditions are incorporated fairly into school life...not necessarily the classroom.

One more thing, I understand the frustration of Christians who feel the true meaning of Christmas is being watered down, and that one or two people get to stop the majority from celebrating an important cultural and religious holiday.
This won't be what most of you want to hear but, Christians wringing their hands about their oppression because we can't put up a Christmas tree at the local High School just doesn't resonate with a lot of people. Christians are hardly oppressed. It ends up sounding like bullying..."You all should do what we want, because we're the majority and we said so!!!"
Not exactly the Spirit of the Season.
Maybe we should follow the lead of a lot of the people who commented on our Facebook page. They remind us that this is a season of goodwill, hope, peace and most of all giving of ourselves.
A gentle reminder of those principals behind this season of celebration might be better received than a stern reprimand.


Many of you know, I am a big fan of separation of Church and State, I believe we should protect the minority...but we also shouldn't run away from an opportunity to educate just because it might be uncomfortable or because it comes from the Majority.
I'm sure I will learn more when I read your comments.


Ronnie
RIP Ron Santo. I Loved listening to the radio when the Cubs were playing just to hear what Ron was going to say.

Cute Babies
I am trying to figure out how to load up a happy dance from our boys that we used this morning...I may or may not get to that this afternoon. I have something better to make up for it. Megan gave me a pic of young Cathryn. She also wrote this small update:

Cathryn is doing great! She loves to smile-especially when we change her
diaper. Her big brothers are very proud-Daniel loves to give her the binky. Alex
says she has perfect little hands, a perfect little nose and the most beautiful
blueberry eyes.

We couldn't agree more. And again, we're glad to have Megan back!

PWD

Fire, Megan's Back and Brooke's Gone

Good Morning!
Brooke was off the set this morning because she had a later than normal night. She had a walk-on role in Mary Poppins at the Civic Center! How fun does that sound. I have to admit I would have been really nervous if I were Brooke. I mean they weren't asking her to sing the lead in the show or anything but still...you can make a pretty big fool of yourself. I'm sure Brooke did great. Anyone out there see her? We got offered tickets late to the show but couldn't go because we already had plans.

I'll combine our Breaking News this morning with Megan's return.
I can't tell you how nice it is to have her back in the newsroom. We don't have a huge team here in the morning to begin with so when someone is gone it really makes a difference. I am glad Megan had the time for her family but we sure missed her.

Megan and our photojournalist Trent hustled this morning to get out to a house fire in Delaware Township. The house was a total loss but the family living there got out OK.
VERY scary. I'm thinking we should do a little drill at my house to make sure we know our jobs in case of an emergency. I was so used to our old house that I didn't really worry about what to do in case of a fire. Maybe it's having the kids, maybe it's just the nature of living in a new place...I am more worried about it now than I was three or four months ago.

Escapee
How bad is it when you own sister tells the public we'd all be better if you were dead? Not to make light of it, but we get people walking away from this work release station all the time. It's a risk of this kind of program, but I think the vast majority serve out their time quietly.

Contract
I'm not sure how any leader in State government can justify four raises unless than two years (no matter how small) right now. I don't care what party you represent, it just seems like it's not the right time. State revenues are going up, yes, but that only gets us back to where we were.
On a side note, if you get voted out of office, you shouldn't have to sit on your hands during the transition, but you should probably respect the fact that the voters didn't want you making anymore long term decisions.
This feels like a decision that both ties the hands of the people who come after you, and ignores the results of the election. For some people, that's going to make it seem like Gov Culver is trying to set a few bridges on fire as he leaves the State Capitol building.

I hope you all have a good day.
PWD

Freeze, Late and Can I speak to your Supervisor?

Good Morning....
I did it again. I overslept.
I don't know how again but I suspect it was the midnight wake up I got from JT. He was standing in his crib screaming. I went into the boys room and sat with him for a few minutes...nothing seemed to be wrong. I suspect he was just testing to see if he could get someone to come get him. Those suspicions were confirmed when he started yelling a few minutes later. We left him this time and after a few screams...he went back to sleep. So did I unfortunately...Brooke woke me with a call and I scrambled to get ready and get into work. it wasn't my best day. Something's got to change...this is happening too often. I don't like where that leaves me.
Fortunately I work with incredible women. They put the show together and had everything ready to go so all I had to do was concentrate on getting here. Thank you Brooke and Jenny!
So I put it to you Bloggers...
What should I do for the girls to make up for the unnecessary pressure I put on them by being late?

Freeze
Our Facebook friends overwhelmingly agree with The President's proposal for a two year pay freeze on all non-military federal employees. My question is...where was this two years ago? I think Federal employees are great people. They serve the country and do jobs that some of us wouldn't want to do.


That said...pay for Federal employees has caught up to the private sector...in some cases passed it. I found an article from 2006 that said the Median Non-military, non-postal employee was making a little more than $60,000. By 2009 that number jumped to more than $80,000 according to the Commerce Department. Here's the graph that was published in the USA Today.

Pay Freeze? I think so.

Can I speak to your Supervisor?
So it's a bit of a thing in our family...if you've got a customer service line to call...Have Pat do it. Sally's no allowed to be on the phone with anyone in Customer Service anymore...it frustrates her a little too much.
To me, that's the point. These operations are set up so you become frustrated and just give up and pay for repairs that a warranty should cover. This was the case yesterday.
We've had some problems with the new house. Fortunately, we have a home warranty. I would submit that these policies are set up to make sure they deny any claim...at least at the first level. It's only after you pass the first line of defense and get to a supervisor that you get the customer service you should.
I spoke to a woman yesterday about a complicated claim we're going to make. She got a little bit chippy with me on the phone. I tried to keep my cool but finally asked for a Suervisor. The Sup got on the phone, took care of the problem and it was done in about 30 second.
How much money could companies save...how much loyalty could they build if they were good about taking care of problems right away? Nordstrom is a great example of this.

I hope you all have a great day!
PWD

Cyber Monday, Wiki-Leaks, Weekend Review

Good Cyber Monday to you all. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving weekend. We'll get to a review of ours in a moment.

First, the news:
Cyber Monday
According to everyone on our Facebook page...they don't shop online at work. So where are all of these people whop are supposed to be shopping today logging on?
This is the kind of frenzies shopping day the Dix family would take part in. We are cyber shoppers. We are also free shippers. If someone won't ship for free, we likely won't shop there. Even better, when a company pays for the return. There's a site called Zappos. It's a shoe retailer. They will let you get as many pairs of shoes as you like. When you decide which one you want to keep...you simply ship the rest back...for free. We will be loyal to this company, simply because of it's customer service.
I guess my point is, you have power as a consumer.

Wiki-leaks
I'm all for open government. I think as much as we can, things should be out in the light of day. That's in the make-believe utopia I sometimes live in in my head. In the real world, it doesn't work that way. To quote my good friend Col. Jessup, "we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns." As part of that we need a good Foreign Service...State Department, CIA etc. I need those people to be able to say what they're thinking. If that is unflattering for a foreign official...so be it. I want it to be professional and I want them to behave in a manor befitting an official of the United States, but I leave it to their boss what that looks like.

Wikileaks is wrong to release this information.

"All you did was weaken a country today...you put lives in danger...Sweet Dreams son."

Weekend Review

So we had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday at the Dix household.

Sally's Parents, My Parents and my sister all came to town. We had a 20lb bird that actually ended up being 22lbs...fresh turkey and I thought it was very good though a little pricey.

Here's a shot of me carving the turkey. I always have trouble pulling out the joints as I carve...thus...the face.
The kids seemed to like the Thanksgiving meal...pretty traditional in our house...turkey, stuffing, mashed and sweet potatoes and Cherry and Pumpkin pie for desert.

Will seemed to like his meal.
Our tradition is to decorate the tree Friday and we held to that this year. Having kids around makes it all a little more challenging. We went out for the tree mid morning and bought the first one we saw. It was like the tree jumped out of the pile and wanted us to take it home.

I didn't get to start on the lights till the kids went down for a nap. Sally's Dad and I put more than 1700 lights on the tree in a little more than two hours. It's a lot of work, but this is one where the result is worth it. So was the reaction of the boys when they came down from their nap. They were mesmerized. They also wanted to pitch in...though I'm not sure they actually helped.

We have a remote control for the lights and so we were counting to three and turning the lights on and off....that's going to be hours of Christmas fun.

We got things pretty well cleaned up Sunday and watched a GREAT Bears game. Sally's got a cold that really knocked her down...I think I am next.

I'm going to go take a Zicam and an Airborne...Wish me luck!

Hope you have a great start to the week!

PWD

A Thanksgiving First

So I'm a little unclear as to what I'm supposed to do now.

I am off for Thanksgiving for the first time since my Junior Year in College. Every year since I've been working in a TV newsroom in some way shape or form. I was told early on when I decided to make News a career, "It's not Thanksgiving...it's Thursday". The holiday usually fell in the November ratings period so it was usually a requirement that I be at work.
Lucky for me, most of those years have been early morning shifts. The days ends up being short and you still get to have dinner with your family... It's not so bad.

To the News
Korea
I am not sure if I've posted this before but I'm reading a book that now seems relevant. It's called "The Coldest Winter" by David Halberstam and it's about the Korean War. The book is LONG, but if you can hang in there through the meticulous history lesson, you learn a lot about Asia, the conditions before and during the Korean conflict and the lessons we forgot between WW2 and Korea.
I'm about 400 pages through the book and I'm just getting to the point where the Chinese enter the war. The stories Halberstam tells of the bravery born of overwhelming odds among American soldiers is amazing. He also turned, what I thought, was the best definition of leadership I've ever read. I'll look it up again when I get home and post it.
Anyway, given the North Korea seems to be provoking another conflict, the book has become even more interesting.

Dancing
So I hat to beat a dead horse here, but I keep getting more and more evidence of the true character of the Palin family. MSNBC posted this thought from Bristol on Finale night:

Palin wanted the win so that it could serve as “a big middle finger to all the people out there who hate (her) mom and hate (her).”

Classy. This is not the picture of American character and values being portrayed by the Palin family right now.
Where do kids learn things like that? I would argue that they learn it, at least in part, from their parents. It's something I am going to keep in mind over the next few years.

So I am on my way back to the house to try to get a few winks...it's going to be later nights while family is here. I am thankful I will have the chance to be with them.

Have a good holiday!
PWD

Body Scanners, Bed Bugs and Bad Fans

Good Morning!
Lots of talkers this morning so lets get right to it!
Body Scanners
I see both sides to the argument over enhanced security procedures at Airports. Here's my thing...I don't travel enough to make the radiation an issue...I would use the body scanner. Second, the manual pat-downs are uncomfortable for sure, but do we really think the TSA guys are waiting for me to come through so they can say they felt up the News Anchor's junk? I doubt it. I would guess this is a lot more uncomfortable for a lot of these people than it is for you and me.
We had a guy on Facebook comment that if we, "continue to capitulate to the government on issues of "safety" they will continue to build their power."
I'm sorry, but I have a hard time seeing how this is the Government consolidating it's power. If you're looking for a slippery slope argument here I don't buy it.
The Government is not coming to my house, they are not stopping people at random on the street. They are searching people who've paid for a ticket that, by the way, is a contract.
in that contract, you agree to go through the security measures the Airlines deem necessary.
I believe in the right of people to not fly. If you don't want to go through these searches...guess what? You have the right not to.

Bed Bugs
Another emailer said we're over-hyping the bed-bug problem in the US. This guy says he travels all the time and that he hasn't carried them back to Iowa.
Friday night was an eye opener for me on this issue. We have a regular pest service and they do a great job. they also have some of the leading experts on specific insect infestations in the country (Thank You ISU!) . This guy says the expert they hired on bedbugs(who will be going to work for the Federal Government dealing with this problem) says by the time we get this under control...80% of Iowans will have had an experience with Bedbugs.We didn't take the service they're offering on bedbugs yet, but I'm strongly considering it.

Bad Fans
I'm seeing things from a different perspective since having kids. This weekend is a prime example.
I got tickets to the Iowa State/Missouri game last minute and went up to Ames to see the game. After a very friendly tailgate with some ISU fans I know, I went into the stadium. Let me preface this next part by saying Iowa State fans are my favorites in this state. I love their loyalty through hard times and their passion for an Athletic Department that isn't exactly a household name across the country.
Having said that, I sat among some of the worst fans I've ever had to deal with at the Game Saturday. These guys were screaming at the Refs after every play...they were angry about every call and using language I wouldn't care for my kids to hear.
That's the part that gets me. I want to take my kids to games like this. If they'd been there with me, I would have asked these guys to dial it down a notch. I doubt it would have worked.
I admit to being that guy at times in the past, but I am seeing things differently now. Passion is good, loyalty to your team is admirable. Being a total Jackass in public is just no fun for anyone.

I have a dentist appointment...
I hope you all have a great day!
PWD

Friday!

Good Morning...

Just a few thoughts to end the week before Thanksgiving.

-Sorry if we ruined breakfast with the video of bedbugs and roaches.
-I don't think I would stand in line to see any Movie. this may, of course, change depending on my children's viewing habits.
-Still haven't worked out the Radiator situation. Thanks for all of your concern. We have heat, it's just not working as well as it could.
-Jeriann IS PREGNANT. She's due in January, it is a boy..big surprise.
-Megan Reuther will be back in about a week and a half. She and he new baby girl are doing well. I think she will enjoy some adult conversation though.
-DAAAAAAA Bears...
-Thanks to a good friend I have the chance to go up to the Iowa State/MIZZOU game. Sally is being a trooper again taking the boys for the evening. At least I'm not leaving the state this time. If you see us up in Ames this weekend...please, no throwing any adult beverages at me.
-I've had a Facebook revelation. I believe it will help.
-If you didn't see, there's a button on the top right of this page now that will connect you to the giveaway for Triple Espresso. Sounds like fun.
Hope you have a good weekend.
PWD

Runaway, Holiday Music, and Just Plain Weird

Good Morning!
Hope you all are having a good start to your day...

The News:
The back story behind the disappearance of a 13 year old and her subsequent return home is even more bizarre then we thought. SO this girl stayed with a friend for at least a day. that friend says she hid the girl from her Mom. Circumstantial evidence starts to punch holes in that story, including an account of another runaway being found at the home a month earlier. I would want a neighbor to let me know my son was with them and safe. I can't imagine what must have been going through the 13 year-old's Parent's heads as the days passed.
The whole thing is just sad.

The More Things Change...
So we had all this change in Washington...and the Leadership is exactly the same. No change. Looks like it will take at least one more election before people start to get the point.

Pat Down
So I'm glad I'm not traveling for the holidays this year. Set off the medal detector at Des Moines' Airport and you're going to want to buy the TSA guy Dinner. At least I like to buy dinner for someone who's going to get that intimate with me. There are now members of Congress who are complaining about the procedures... Really?
This is the price you pay when the guy hides the bomb in his boxer/briefs.

Just plain Weird
Some guy shot his TV when Bristol Palin was on Dancing with the Stars. No joke...
And while we're on the Palin subject. Bristol's sister Willow posted slurs on her Facebook page when she got into it with a guy who didn't like the family's reality TV show. Now I get it that kids are kids and I can't imagine what mine are going to parrot when they get older...
That said, I would release a statement saying...that's not how I raised my kids and that the language is unacceptable. Unless of course it IS acceptable with her MOM.
I guess we're left to our own conclusions.

Holiday Music
So we asked the question this morning...when is it OK to play holiday music? Lite 104 is going to start playing it all the time tomorrow. So I asked and people seem to have a firm conviction on this one. We'll have the debate about "taking the Christ out of Christmas" later. If you did/didn't post on the Facebook page feel free...or sound-off here!
For me, the only answer for Holiday Music is this. It starts the Day AFTER Thanksgiving. Before that and it's like nails on a chalkboard to me. But that's just me. That doesn't mean I think YOU shouldn't be able to play Holiday music whenever you like.

Have a good one.
PWD

Evil, De-Friending, and A Turkish Bath

Anyone know how to fix a boiler?

I need some repair for a repair that was done yesterday. Our radiators weren't working properly so I called out our heating/cooling guys. We have one of those yearly service contracts and have had one with the same company for years. They're always great about getting out to help quickly and have helped us in an emergency more than once. So anyway, the guy came over yesterday and explained I had a thermostat no tied into the boiler. He fixed it but in the process seems to have unleashed the full fury of the radiators in this old house. Our bedroom was like Turkish Bath last night. I actually opened a window. It was 31 degrees when I got up!
The window didn't help at all. So good as advertised, the company is sending someone out right away this morning to take care of it.

So here I am waiting at the house we'll talk about the news while we wait.

Evil
Sometimes there's no explanation for a crime and all I'm left with is...there is evil in the world. A boy shoots and kills two defenseless women and has no reason for doing it...I'm left with, Evil.
Maybe we'll get another explanation but I can't think of one that would explain this.

Defriending
So we're having a running debate about "friending" people on Fac ebook. this is National De-Friending Day, as declared by Jimmy Kimmel. I don't know why he gets to say we all need to de-friend some of our Facebook friends but what the heck.
Two sides to this one for me. My wife agrees I should cull the herd a little on Facebook. Be the Cyber-Sheepdog as my friend Ben put it. They both believe I have too many friends on Facebook. I have usually accepted most people's requests even when i didn't know them. i assume they're viewers. That said I think i should put my friends in groups. This way if there's some personal information i might want to share...pictures of the kids...stuff like that...it will only be for people I know.
The part I don't agree about is de-friending someone cause they post all the time. If you don't like someone's posts...hide them. Then they'll never know you are ignoring their post about the tenth place they've visited today, or the link to some onion article they found funny, or the Farmville update they've posted.

I Forgot
I forgot to gloat a little about the Northwestern win Saturday. I won't...
I will however suggest to more than a few Hawk fans that they start treating trips to Evanston like a trip to Madison.
I know the history. Northwesteern has always been the Big Ten doormat but how long ago was that? I looked it up. Over the last fifteen years, Northwestern is 9-5 against the Hawkeyes. I think I remember some Hawkeyes fans calling on a record like that against Iowa St as proof they'd dominated the series over the long run. Here's the trump card...When's the last time Iowa went to the Rose Bowl?
Iowa fans will say Northwestern treats this as it's biggest game of the season...I would disagree...
Here's a post from Fanhouse.com:

Iowa fans want the right to be dismissive of Northwestern's
attempted rivalry. They want to call the occasional loss to the Wildcats a result of the opposing team spending its entire season prepping for one game. That only works if the losses are actually occasional

Of course this is not a rivalry...I'm not saying Northwestern is some force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten either...far from it.
Maybe they've taken the spot Illinois used to occupy on Iowa's schedule. That was a pretty good game year in year out...As long as Pat Fitzgerald is around, I think this will be too.

The service guy is on the way. I'll leave it at that...
One more thing...I hear we're going to start to give some stuff away on this blog. I expect I'll get the details here shortly...but make sure you come back and visit the Morning Buzz. I look forward to your comments!

PWD

Awards, Shootings and Royals

Good Morning.
Sorry about getting to the blog later than normal today. Had a three hour date with the boiler repair guy. No matter how well you inspect a new home before you move in, there will always be things you need to change a few months down the road. In our case it was a thermostat that was turning on a pump but not the boiler. The result was a radiator cycling cold water through the system. Not a good way to heat the house. So I think we're fixed.

To the news
Murders/Mayhem
So we had a busy overnight on the Police scanners. it started long before I got in. There were two armed robberies and murders at Convenience stores in Humbolt and in Algona. The question is who would do that? We got the answer about half way through our Noon news when the Police said it was a teenager from Minneapolis. More details tonight on our evening newscasts.

Mayhem
So someone broke into an apartment in Johnston, stole a car from an apartment complex next door. I guess they drove to Des Moines because two cars crashed at 23rd and Woodland about 3:45 and burst into flames. Police think all of this is connected but aren't confirming that just yet.

Award
The attitude of Army Staff Sgt Sal Giunta is befitting a Medal of Honor recipient. He doesn't believe his actions merit the attention he's getting but as Brian Williams pointed out, he WAS picked, and he is getting the attention. Now Giunta's life will change forever. He is a perfect Representative of the State of Iowa, of the Army Airborne and of his country. I'm looking forward to hearing more at the Medal ceremony this afternoon. You can see it streaming over out website.

Royals
So Prince William is engaged. I don't usually get into this kind of stuff, but as many of you know the pomp and circumstance surrounding things like the Royal Family in Britain usually interests me. William seems like he takes the responsibility of being a leader seriously. I am impressed with his service to his country.

Triple Espresso
It's back. the show starts up again at the Temple. I am a little embarrassed to say in it's previous three runs, I haven't seen this show. I will this time around. The guys who star in the show liked Des Moines so much...they decided to settle down here. Everyone who's ever seen the show reports side splitting laughter, and as the guys said today on the Noon news...who couldn't use that these days?

I hope you have a good day!
PWD

Graphic Pictures, Bad Book and Jackwagon

Good Morning.
We've starting finding topics to put on our Facebook page each morning. They're stories we think you might have an opinion on...the talkers of the morning.
We know a lot of you are watching us while you're logged on to your computer so interaction is more possible then ever. I hope you'll let us know what you're thinking.

Landlord
The words and the actions of a Des Moines Landlord don't add up. He says he is committed to making sure all of his properties are clean safe places to live. He has had considerable time to make sure that's the case. The City said last night it wasn't going to give him any more time. Now he has thousands of dollars in fines to pay and the City is going to take legal action against 14 of his properties. Now I don't own rental property so I have no idea how hard it is to maintain But if you had the money to buy the 10-14th properties...didn't you have the money to make sure properties 1-10 were clean and safe.

Graphic Pictures
The FDA is recommending new warnings for cigarette packaging. The pictures would be graphic reminders of the potential consequences of smoking. Are they too much? We have a string of comments going on our Facebook page already
AP Poll 2012
So Sarah Palin is the mist polarizing potential candidate for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination. In other News...the sky is blue and the sun will rise.
The results of the new AP/GFK poll are unsurprising. I don't think Palin will end up as the nominee in 2012. She's got to come to Iowa and get into some living rooms if she's going to win here and he latest trip to Des Moines didn't indicate that would be her style. She could change, but I suspect we either haven't seen the 2012 nominee yet. If we have, I think the President wins another term in office in a walk. If a candidate doesn't emerge with a clear and inspiring vision for the country that contrasts with the President's, I think the GOP will have a hard time in 2012. I have no doubt all of the potential candidates want to be President but you get the feeling that son;y because they want a promotion, or because they want to win. neither of those reasons seem to be good enough for voters these days. A clearly articulated vision of the future (see Obama:Hope and Change, or Tea Party:Limited spending/Smaller Govt) has worked in recent elections and I suspect that's what will win in two years.

Of course it's possible none of this will matter because world events may shape a new political climate in two years. That's why polls like this aren't exactly worth the paper they're printed on.

Bad Book
So it looks like Amazon.com pulled the self published book from a guy that laid out etiquette for Pedophiles. You read that right. I don't even know where to start...words don't cover the distaste I have for writing those kinds of ideas down anywhere.
Amazon initially said it would continue to sell the book as a Kindle download. The company said it would be censorship to restrict the sale of the book just because someone didn't agree with the ideas. I see the broad point being made and I'm all for free speech. brad, however made a good point. Amazon doesn't have to sell the book. that's exercising the right of free speech too. this guy wasn't restricted in any way. He could start up a website and sell his self published book if he wanted to. Businesses have a choice to make and the marketplace can sort out demand after they make the choice.
As I said it looks like they pulled the book. Agree/disagree?

Veterans
I think this year it should be in particular focus what our Veterans do for us. thousands of families right here in Iowa are sacrificing a great deal this next year. Beyond that so many of our aging Veterans won't be around forever. If you know them...if you talk to them, they have amazing stories about their service. I hope you will say thank you and ask them to share.

Jackwagon
So I was out at the Mall last night picking up some things from Costco. This, of course, is not the easiest task to accomplish because of my toddler co-pilots. They're fun to have along most of the time but they slow ya down, and if they don't get their dinner on time..they'll be filing very LOUD complaints with the management.
So we got out to Costco but it just took a few minutes longer than I thought it would...always does.
I needed to get one more thing at Williams Sonoma...and we'd actually pre-ordered it. However, the idea of getting the boys out of the car, into a stroller then into the store for a two minute errand and then getting them back out to the car where getting them back in their car seats would make Wrestlemania look like a square dance; didn't appeal to me.
So, I called the store and asked if someone would run the thing out to the curb for me.
I know I know...it's the selfish. Why am I so special? I'm not the only parent dealing with a couple kids while running my errands. But, for my own sanity I thought I would ask.
The woman said she'd do it...and it all worked out. I still felt like a pretty big Jackwagon when I drove away.

I'll try to do something nice and unexpected for someone else today to pay that kindness forward. Hope you all have a good day.
PWD

Facebook Firing and a Holiday Promo

Good Morning...It is still morning.
No morning break for me and a little late to the blog because we had to shoot our version of the Holiday promo that will air over the next few weeks.
Sometimes I see what our Promotions guy Kevin is doing...I get where he's going with the spot. This time, I don't see it. Kevin will make something fun, maybe even funny out of it, and I am sure he has an idea in his head of what it will look like...I look forward to his putting the pieces together.

Facebook Firing
So this lady in Connecticut got fired cause she said some nasty things about her boss on Facebook. I was surprised at the number of posts we got on our own Facebook page when I put the question out there, Did she deserve to be fired? Most people say no. She was on her own time and has the right to say anything she likes. I just looked up what the woman said...seems to me the company will have some ground to stand on. Twice in a week, a customer called to complain about her attitude. She then called her boss psychotic and used expletives on her Facebook page.
I agree with a lot of the people who posted on our site. You MUST assume anyone and everyone will see a post you've put up on the Internet. I don't care where you put it. Someday it WILL get traced back to you.
I also agree the woman has a right to complain, she has a right to make her case using the facts and reasonable, generally acceptable language. No one has the right to slander someone else. I am for free speech, and the message doesn't always have to be something we want to hear, but there also has to be a reasonable standard of responsibility from the person who's speaking. Freedom of speech is a right, but it comes with responsibilities.

Shot in the Dark (or at least the pre-dark dusk)
So the US Military expects us to believe the streak of smoke we (and when I say we I mean people who live in California) saw in the sky over Southern California was a contrail of an airplane? I'm no expert, but I think that's impossible.
From Wikipedia

The main byproducts of hydrocarbon fuel combustion are carbon dioxide and water vapor. At high altitudes this water vapour emerges into a cold environment, and the local increase in water vapor can push the water content of the air past saturation point. The vapour then condenses into tiny water droplets and/or deposits into ice. These millions of tiny water droplets and/or ice crystals form the vapour trail or contrails. The vapor's need to condense accounts for the contrail forming some way behind the aircraft's engines. At high altitudes, supercooled water vapor requires a trigger to encourage deposition or condensation. The exhaust particles in the aircraft's exhaust act as this trigger, causing the trapped vapor to rapidly turn to ice crystals. Exhaust vapour trails or contrails can only occur above 8000 meters (26,000 feet), and only if the temperature there is below -40°C (-40°F).

Someone who's a pilot can check me on that but I think it makes sense. And so, the argument that the trail you saw was a contrail of a plane should me NO sense. it came up from the ground and A LOT lower than 20,000 feet.

So we've all learned something today...

Have a good one
PWD

Thoughts on Stress and Loss

Good Morning. One subject seemed to flow out of another this morning so i will just get right to it. All of them seem to play into the fears and insecurities new parents have.

Lost
A 13 year old girl is missing from the South Side and it seems no one knows where she went.
Now I know why some parents don't want to let thier kids out of the house.

Loss
I usually check The Chicago Tribune's website in the morning and this morning was no exception. I wished I hadn't. Ii thought all morning about the first article I pulled up. it was about the growing number of Men who find themselves widowers and fathers of young children. I had the boys to myself just for a few hours last night and I can't even think about it...living without my wife...getting though the day to day. Of course either of us would do it. I just don't like to think about it.

Stress
A new study says Americans are stressed. Stressed about money, about family about jobs and job security. What's more the study says we are too busy to do anything about it. What do you think? Are we to blame for our own stress? Should we be? How much do our own choices play into our stress level?

Not much more to say. Hope you all have a good day.
PWD

Threats, The Call, and The Weekend

It was a shock to step outside this morning but not because of the cold. What a nice day so far...

Threats
The kids in Ankeny will be happy. They get the day off, but I am asking myself why? If Police don't believe it's a credible threat, if the school has been swept...why not get the kids to school today? This isn't a credible threat but kids aren't allowed to wear backpacks? This isn't a credible threat but they're going to search purses? We're not being told something here. An overabundance of caution is one thing, but this seems over the top. I suspect either, the threat is more than the Police or School are letting on, or that they believe so many parents will keep their kids home from school today...it's not worth holding classes. I get to say this now because I'm a parent...I would send my kids to school. At what point do you trust the Police? If they say it's not a threat...it's not right? Someone explain to me what's going on

The Call..
I think Paul Rhodes made the right call. God for the win and home...go for the tie on the road. Show your players you believe they can win it.
-just an observation from the game. Both coaches were screaming on the sidelines...I felt very differently about the two men and I watch them...so was trying to come up with a way to explain my mental separation of the two.
Here's what I came up with: Paul Rhodes is the guy you want to have a beer with...just talking to him could fire you up and make you a better person.
Bo Pellinni is the guy you want to punch on the way out of the bar so he'll shut up.

-More Football: I'm pushing my way toward the radio room of the S.S. Mizzou Football We lost a game we should have won and looked bad blowing a seventeen point lead. I am fearful of the Tiger's visit to Ames. I think this could be a story of two programs headed opposite directions.

-Sorry Hawkeye fans; this is the week I root for Northwestern. As a long suffering neighbor of the Wildcats and the Husband of an NU Alum, I will wear my purple proudly. I think Iowa has the Wildcats outclassed this year, but you never know. As we pointed out this morning, NO has been a thorn in Iowa's side since 2002.

Other Random Thoughts
- A guy that, until recently, had been trapped underground ran the NYC Marathon this weekend...yep, I'm lazy. For the record Jerrod ran the race too...so did one of Dan Patrick's radio producers.
-Watched parts of the HBO movie Recount when it has been on the past week or so. I didn't realize it was the ten year anniversary of the disputed 2000 election this week.
There was this shot at thew end of the move where they put the boxes of ballots up on a Raiders of the Lost Ark looking shelf. The clear message of the shot is that the votes will never be counted and the evil Republicans stole the election. How soon we forget.
Two separate recount commissions paid for by the largest (and most liberal) news organizations in the country concluded that under the standards Al Gore was asking for during the controversy, Bush still wins Florida and therefore the Presidency. Only under the most liberal standard (a standard that no one was asking for or recognizes as a fair way to count) did Gore eek out a 47 to 174 vote lead.
An article I saw rightly points out that the real culprit in the 2000 Election was the State of Florida and the way it conducted elections. tens of thousands of votes in Republican and Democrat heavy areas weren't counted at all because people forgot to vote for President or were in some way confused.
Elections aren't' perfect, but can we please stop talking about anyone stealing the vote?

The Weekend
I got the boys for most of the day Saturday cause Sal had to work. No complaint there at all. Lord knows she's taken the boys so I can go to football games and golf trips and the like, so I was happy to do it. We went out to the Mall where we had some errands to accomplish. I'm glad to say we did without a lot of screaming.
I decided to keep them out at the Mall for lunch. As you know, I only mention names of companies when they go above and beyond with customer service.
I thought Chick-fillet did just that. They have someone on the customer side of the counter to help you to your table. Since I haven't grown a third arm...I needed the help. She also brought sanitizing wipes to the table, and some kids straws; all unsolicited. It made lunch easier.

Sally and I got a date night Saturday and again had some great customers service at Flemming's. We had a lot of logistics to work out for the holidays and the bar at Flemming's served as a great place to do it.

So there ya go. Plenty to talk about.
Have a good start to your week and feel free to comment on just about anything.

NIMBY, Saving Time and Trader Joe's

Good Morning!
Like many of you, I suspect, I had a debate with myself this morning before I walked out the door. Do I take out the winter coat? Once you go to the Winter jacket you really don't go back. It's a mental transition, a surrender to the cold that relegates short-sleeve shirts and shorts to the back of the closet. It's possible I'm the only one thinking about it this much, but it took me a minute to pull the winter coat out of the closet. I wonder what I left in the pockets the last time I had the thing on?

To the News:
NIMBY
It's one of my favorite acronyms. Not it My Backyard. That's what some Urbandale Homeowners have to say about an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility proposed for the Meredith Business park. Like most of these kinds of issues, if it were coming into my neighborhood I think I'd be concerned. It's not as if all of our property values are going through the roof these days. You really don't want anything that is going to further weigh down the value. That said, this thing needs too go somewhere. This is the problem with Immigration enforcement in Iowa. We don't have a Federal facility. So transportation and housing of inmates in Federal Custody costs A LOT. Ask Polk County. that's how we're funding that huge jail up on the North side. the Feds are paying us to house inmates.
The meeting about the new facility is Monday at the Urbandale City Administration building.


Transition
So no break after the election...all of the networks are on to 2012 and here locally we're already on to the 2011 Legislative session. The Governor-Elect wants to put a hold on all of the I-jobs projects. I don't know enough about all of the project to say whether they should go forward, but I do like the fact that Culver's executive order on Project Labor agreements will be canceled out. The Marketplace should dictate who gets a contract. If Unions provide better quality and a safer workplace, they should be able to sell that when Union Shops bid for work.

Saving Time
It sounds weird I know but you can go ahead and correct your co-workers if they come in to the office today and talk about Daylight SavingS Time. It's Daylight SAVING time. We are saving Daylight...right? We're not SAVINGS Daylight.

Joe and Chuck
So Trader Joe's opens this morning. We've had grocery Stores like this one before. We just haven't had the Brand Name behind it. For some reason that makes all the difference in the world. We had Cheesecake Factory before it moved into the Mall. We called in MONDO's back then. It was basically the same restaurant...something about that cheesecake must be the reason people still wait two hours for a table there, and Mondo's closed down. Just my opinion, but I think this may be Iowa's inferiority complex creeping in. If it comes from a big city...we embrace it...If someone local just starts a gourmet grocery store...we call it overpriced.

Hope all of you have a good weekend...
Please feel free to comment about this or any other subject. We're listening!
PWD

Post Election Thoughts

I've come to take the blog back!
Just kidding...We're pretty much done talking politics 24/7...for a little while. So what do people think the over/under is for the first time we see a Republican set up shop here in Iowa running for 2012?


-So what do you think of your new/old Governor and the balance of power at the Statehouse? Sounds like a few people are going to have to learn how to play well with others or NOTHING is going to get done.


-For the vote on the Justices? I think there were a lot of people voting No on the Justices for a lot of different reasons. A bunch of people I talked with last night seemed to say they just wanted to "send a message". What message? "Throw the bums out".
Look, that's a valid reason. Each person has to decide for themselves, but this is a much more complicated question than a lot of people made it out to be. The ramifications may be far reaching.
What disturbs me more than that? In the discussion of this issue, both sides really fell short. On the Yes side, the proponents of keeping the Justices seemed to talk down their noses at voters, as if they were insulted their authority was being questioned. That may not have been the intent, but they never made their case in a way Iowans could understand.
On the vote no side, I am disappointed in the people who were less than truthful to voters. Opinions on the Justices ruling are one thing, and there's honest debate to be had. There were some people who conveniently left out A LOT of the facts to support their argument. Voters trust that these people will be honest. When they're not, voters are left to make a decision based on an incomplete picture.
That's politics.

-I was at Brad Zaun's Headquarters covering the 3rd Congressional race for us last night. It was a unique post-election party. The candidate spent much of the night among his supporters, thanking them and having a good time. He was upbeat in defeat and so were the people who worked for him. None of the long faces or anger you sometimes see after a campaign puts it's heart and soul into a win. We forget sometimes the thousands of people who volunteer for these campaigns. they don't get paid a lot, they are passionate about their side's case for election and when they lose, they're left without a lot to show for all the hard work.

-I saw a woman lash out at verbally at Brad Zaun as he headed in to his polling place to vote. She should be ashamed.
Each candidate, no matter how good or bad you think they are, deserves our respect for running.
We saw a lot of classy concessions and a lot of classy victory speeches last night. In each of them the candidate thanked his or her opponent. At the end of a race, even if it's been a bitter fight, adults should be able to set aside their differences for a moment and acknowledge that the process only continues if we have healthy debate in this country.

You may have more to say and I would love to hear it all. Weigh in! I had a couple people come up and tell me they read the blog every day but don't participate. These posts only get better when there's lively discussion from you all!
I look forward to your thoughts.

I am headed home to try to add to the two hours sleep I got last night. People asked me if that was hard to come back this morning after a late night covering the elections last night. My answer is that I love election day. If you do what we do and don't like working on days like today, you might want to look for another career.
I'm going to look for a pillow.
PWD

Mostly the Weekend

Good Morning.
I will make it a short blog. I'm on the Injured Reserve a little for the typing.
Saturday morning I was getting the boys some breakfast (peaches). I was holding one of those big cans of peaches with the lid open but still attached and open. The can slipped out of my hand and down. The edge of the open lid sliced mt hand open below my pinkie.
Did ya know how much hands bleed? I probably should have had stitches but if I'd gone to the Er I would have been late for the start of the Missouri/Nebraska game. In retrospect that might have been the better decision. Anyway, I bandaged the thing up and bled all the way to Lincoln. The nice people at Memorial Stadium patched me up and I made it but boy my hand is sore today! That's gonna leave a mark!

Confession
I'm the one who stole the jersey from the Sports Department. it's been hanging there for years and for some reason i thought it was a throwback Missouri Jersey. i thought Missouri sent it to Heisman voters the year Chase Daniel was in the running. Much to my embarrassment, It was a Hawkeye throwback jersey. I'll return it today.

The Game
It wasn't the outcome I'd hoped for...that's for sure. I have to say thought, beyond the game being more competitive, I really did like the trip to Lincoln. For the most part, the Nebraska fans were really nice. Some of them were anyway. I can say this though...I've never been in a stadium where more people were rooting for, cheering for and into the same exact thing. Usually there are a few fair weather fans...some people who got tickets at work...something like that. None of that in Lincoln. It was an impressive College Football atmosphere.
Good Luck to Iowa State. Win out and you're going back for a rematch with Oklahoma.

More Politics
One more day. We'll see if I can live through the commercials. Someone emailed us and told us we were biased and keeping the truth from Iowa voters because we weren't telling people about the law the Iowa's Supreme Court made when it ruled on the same sex marriage case. OK I'll bite. Which law? Site the Iowa code for me. Where in the Iowa code does it say that same sex couple can get married here?
There is a code that says two people 18 years old can be joined in Civil Union if the agree to it and get a license. Now there is no gener restriction to who can get a license. That's Iowa Code 595. But, where's the same sex law everyone is saying the Supremes in this state wrote? How did they word it? When did it go into effect?
Words are important in this debate. Every Iowan has the right to vote for to retain or excuse the Justices based on his or her own criteria. I would just want to make sure the criteria I'm using are based in fact or in my opinion of the facts.

WHOMEVER/WHATEVER YOU VOTE FOR...PLEASE VOTE!

PWD

Four More Days, Best and Worst and Advice

Good Morning!

We had a lot of conversation on the set this morning ranging from Politics to the worse Halloween candies. We'll talk about all of it.

Four More Days
Who's sick of the ads? Just so we don't keep this entirely serious. Brooke pointed out this morning there's a statehouse race where a guy named Olive is Running against a guy named Bacon. Now all we need is some water chestnuts and toothpicks and we've got an Hors'douvers tray.
What's with the heated sidewalks. These commercials reference them as a proposal that was floated at the Statehouse. I can't say I remember that. And aren't the flower beds downtown paid for via private donors? I thought I remembered that Ruan paid for it.
To me, if this is the best you can do to try to win an election...you've grasping at straws. Notice none of these ads actually say what the candidate running the ad IS for. I have to say I respect the candidate on the ballot in front of me a lot more if they lay out their priorities in a compelling way and then let me decide.

Airport Search
So the TSA is trying to get people to go through those full body scanners. As added incentive they're saying there will be "enhanced" screenings by TSA personnel if you refuse the full body scanner. Remember, the last guy who tried to blow up a plane hid the bomb in his tighty-whities so if they're expanding the search area...well you can full in the blanks there. P.S. Men will be screening men and women screening women.
Point me toward that full body scanner.

Worst Treats
So we've got a poll going and we gave a running conversation on our Facebook page of the worst Halloween candies...
Mary Jane's are the Orange and Black wrapped peanut butter candies. I don't like those. Anything black licorice...blahhhh. Vote on the poll, we'll keep it up through the Halloween weekend.
On another Halloween note, why is trick or treating so late? 6-8PM? We used to start at 4pm and go till 9. It would make it hard to get our kiddos out to the neighborhood. they usually go to bed at seven, but I may suggest they go to bed later Sat night. Maybe we'll just dress em up and let them answer the door.

Advice
So I'm going over to Lincoln for the Nebraska/Missouri game. I have never been to Lincoln for a game so I am soliciting suggestions from the Cornhusker fans I know we have in the blogosphere.
Anyone have suggestions for pre-game activities? Is there something I should see in the Stadium?
I have to say my friend who's going with me seemed a bit apprehensive about sitting among thousands of Nebraska fans. I have to say I'm not worried. They were always the nicest visiting fans when I was in Columbia. Of course that's when MIZZOU was a guaranteed win on the schedule. Times have changed.

So there you have it. Vote on the poll, comment on whatever you like. We'll be back Monday.
PWD

Dispatch, Interviews and TV

Good Morning! The end of the political season is just about here. I don't know about you... but I am ready for the ads to stop. And the calls! Patrick said he got one yesterday and it woke one of his boys from their nap. Ah! If that doesn't make you want to vote AGAINST the candidate calling... I don't know what will.

Lots to talk about including two live interviews on Today in Iowa... so lets get to it.


Dispatch worker
This was our lead this morning. We got to listen to the 911 call made from people inside the Boone Hy-Vee store after a former worker started running through the ailes with a knife. In the call... you hear the dispatcher ask the guy inside the Hy-Vee to try to get closer to the man with the knife so police could have a better description of him. Probably NOT the best advice ever given by a call center worker. The Boone County Sheriff's Office says it has talked to this employee about the mistake made. But, it makes you wonder if someone could have been hurt for trying to get close to a person like this. Who knew if he had a gun... and who knew what he was capable of doing? And did officers really need a description? I mean, he's probably going to stand out just a little from the other shoppers in the store. Luckily no one was hurt.

Face Time
We had Governor Culver in the studio this morning and Former Governor Terry Branstad on the phone this morning for interviews. We started with Governor Culver and asked him about I-Jobs, does he deserve another 4 years in office and what does he think of the possibility of leading our state with a Republican majority Statehouse. Pat and I both agree the Governor seemed fired up and going into this final stretch fighting hard to stay in office. You have to think you're running on pure adrenaline when you make 72 stops across the state in just 12 days. When we asked him about why voters should give you a second chance when you've admitted to mistakes, his answer was full of some of the things he thinks he has done right. Alternative energy... getting through natural disasters.. and getting the state debt down. And at the end... he asked Iowans for their vote. Pat and I agreed... that's not something you hear many politicians do during news interviews.

Terry Branstad joined us via phone from Burlington where he's starting a tour today of the eastern part of the state. In the past couple of days, you can tell the tone of his campaign is focusing on getting supporters to the polls... and not taking his lead in the polls for granted. Yesterday, Mississippi's Governor Haley Barbour was in town campaigning for Branstad and used the example of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal losing his first bid for Governor by just a few votes even after a commanding lead in the polls leading up to the election. Barbour warned supporters about this happening here.. and asked them to push hard these final days. In an Iowa election... I guess you never know what can happen. Just ask Jim Ross Lightfoot!

And finally... Too much TV
This was the story that didn't shock me... but at the same time bothered me. A new study out by researchers finds 66% of pre-school age children watch more than 2 hours of tv a day. And the children who watch the most, are those in at-home daycare centers. They get about 4 hours a day! What! I certainly don't think tv is a bad thing (if it is age appropriate) but shouldn't kids be playing with their trucks, running around outside and doing other things kids do? Does tv allow them to use their imagination and creativity? Everything in moderation... right? Four hours is not moderation! Any thoughts on this?

Hope you survive the wind again today. It's going to get better! Have a good day!
Brooke

Elections and Weekend Recap

Good Morning,

Sorry for the Delay of the Monday Blog...It's so delayed...it's Tuesday. Better late than never.

To the News

Elections

Anyone else glad there's only a week more of this? Why is it that this year, more than most, the political commericals seem like some sort of satire... Have you heard the PSA? "Someone's Teddy Bear has always fought for the people...Someone's Teddy Bear is a family man who believes what you believe..." I feel like that's the script for every one of these ads.

On a side note I wonder sometimes how these candidates can sleep at night? Who comes up with the idea of tearing someone down so personally? How do you expect to make ethical decisions when you know you are misleading the voter? It's happening over and over on both sides of the aisle.

The only answer I can come up with is that these people are being told to do what they have to to win...at all costs. 'Cause you can't do anything if you're not elected. It's OK to mislead the voters cause you really want what's best for them...The other guys started it...

I think I know why no one in their right mind is willing to put themselves up for public office right now.

For the Cure

From Friday when I left the Studios until about One in the afternoon Saturday, my life was all about Race for the Cure. It was interesting to see the whole thing come together behind the scenes.

I got to volunteer with two great groups of kids. The first was the Dowling Football team...or at least part of it. They came down to the capitol and helped us unload about a million cases of water. At least that's what my arms estimated after we were done.

The Second group was from the North High School ROTC. Talk about impressive. They reassured my faith in the future.

The volunteers who did everything from setting up garbage cans to taking donations to picking up trash made the event go off without a significant hitch. My only regret is that working behind the scenes I did not get a chance to get out and meet some of the amazing survivors who walked or ran. These are women (and some men) who have already gone through the fight of their lives and are not working to make sure no one else has to go through what they went through. Talk about impressive. The photo on the right is our family race day.

Visits

As mentioned before Sally's Mom and my sister came to town for the race.

My sister and my Mother-in-law were both her for race and we had simply could not have done all we needed to without their help. I am posting some photos of the visit in a bit (read: after the Nooner)...

Other than that...not much to report.

Have a good day.

Debate, Donations and More Judges...

Good Morning. I'm dragging but it's for a good cause this morning
I was honored to be asked to Emcee the March of Dimes Signature Chef's Auction out at the Meadows last night. It's a unique fundraiser...no rubber chicken here...Each Chef creates a special dish or two for the people who buy tickets.
Jeriann and her husband Rob came out with us along with some other great friends that we haven't seen in a while.
If anyone who reads this was at The Meadows last night, email some pictures and I'll post em here.
Bedtime didn't come till about 10:30. My alarm was set for the same time this morning.


To the News
Debate
One of my colleagues said it best last night when I asked, Not a lot of new information coming form the final Governor's debate. I read several places, people observing; if Governor Culver had the kind of energy and could have articulated his message that well for the last year and a half, he might not be so far behind in the polls.

Juan
SO who thinks Juan Williams should have been fired from NPR? The NPR reporter went on Bill O'Riley's show and basically said when he sees someone in traditional Muslim dress board an airplane, he gets nervous. He said that while making the point that generalizing about a group, as he'd done in his head, was WRONG.
I read a lot of stories on this one and it seems clear, Williams had been warned about putting opinions out there. It was against NPR policy. So did he do this knowing he was going to get fired, then quickly re-hired by Fox? I don't know, but I know this: the best commentary on this whole flap was from Dori J. Maynard, the President of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education( it trains minority journalists)
She points out NPR missed an opportunity. why not host a town hall-style program, or even a series of stories about the reasons behind Williams' reaction.

"I hate what he said," Maynard said during the Associated Press Managing Editors
conference in St. Petersburg, Fla. "But he didn't say something, unfortunately,
that other people aren't thinking. So we have to talk about it. Not talking
about things don't make them go away."

Aside from the double negatives littered in her quotes...I agree.

Donations
I hope to see many of you out at Race for the Cure tomorrow. Full Disclosure: My Wife works for the Des Moines affiliate of Komen for the Cure. That aside, I would still say going to the Des Moines race is a moving experience. There will be thousands of women who are survivors at the race including my Mother-in-law, who is a two time survivor. Hearing their stories, and seeing how they celebrate their health, their fight, and their mission to find a cure for Breast Cancer is really amazing. So is the picture you get from the west steps of the Capitol Building after the race starts. 25-thousand people in pink flooding downtown streets shows the community support for this cause.


Can't make it? Want to donate? I'll make it easy for ya! Just click on this link.



More Judges...
I don't know why but I can't get this Judge retention vote out of my head.
I've tried to frame the arguments here in terms that make a little more sense to everyone.
The legal argument can be confusing. It basically says that the law created a group that was denied the same rights afforded anyone else, based on sexual orientation.
The ruling says that's a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the Iowa Constitution (ArticleI SecVI).
The ruling in full is very interesting to read and I think before you vote a Judge out based on this ruling alone, you might want to read it. But I digress....
Lets frame this argument in another way, using the same logic opponents of same sex marriage use.
Lets say the Legislature passed a law and the Governor signed it barring Gun owners from running a child care facility in their homes. Seems to me there's a significant public safety interest in making sure that kids aren't exposed to guns, right? Owning a gun is a choice right? You don't HAVE to own a gun.
Here's the problem with that: The law would create a special class of people (gun owners) excluded from their right under the law to run a business; a right afforded to anyone else who qualifies under Iowa statute. The Courts would have a responsibility to make sure The Constitution isn't violated. The remedy would be to strike that portion of the Iowa Code.

Other Random Thoughts
-I think I lost my phone in my car. Not sure though. Every time I think about going out to try to find it I realize the best way to look for the phone would be to call it. Problem with that? No phone when I am out by the car.


-#1 Oklahoma visits Columbia, Mo this weekend to play my Tigers. College Gameday makes it's first visit to Columbia for its Saturday morning program. Signs are already up to greet them...



I will be taping Gameday to watch after we get home form the race.
See you this weekend!
PWD