Royal Wedding

Good Morning!
I hope those of you who wanted to, got to watch the Royal wedding.
For those of you who missed it...sorry, highlights will be forthcoming on every broadcast and Internet outlet on the planet.
-I have to admit I was interested. I wouldn't have been up at 3AM to watch the coverage if this wasn't my job but I probably would have watched most of the wedding just to see it.

-I shouldn't be but I guess I was surprised at how quickly the ceremony was essentially over... They took their vows in the first 15 minutes! The pomp and circumstance was interesting to me. They take this stuff seriously in Great Britain, it's their tradition, their heritage...so it's appropriate they make the occasion with a lot of ceremony.

-Now to our coverage. We talked a lot this week about how we were going to cover the Royal wedding all this week. I'm sorry for the people who wanted to DVR the wedding and missed it. I guess the channel guide on Mediacom had it right...it said we would be broadcasting Today in Iowa from 5-7.
We talked about it on Facebook. We talked about it on-air. I'm not criticizing people who didn't know but I guess I'm surprised at the people who thought this was such an important event weren't paying any attention to it up until the day of the event. Despite the email accusing us of some sort of last minute switch, we did give pretty fair warning.
One woman write to tell us we were "losing perspective on what was real news". Another said she was "disgusted" with our decision. Still another called this the "biggest media event of the Century".
The real courage of these comments is the fake name on the address.
On Facebook, some of the disgruntled viewers were even more serious, threatening to "unfriend us" for the decision, another person called it..."Sad".

Here's my perspective.
I can understand disappointment with the decision. I can understand you may not have heard one of the many announcements we had that indicated this was going to be our coverage plan. If I wanted to watch the U.S. Open Golf Tournament and we decided to switch over the Westminster Dog Show, I would be livid. In fact I've been one of those people who've called a newsroom before complaining about the choice to air one NFL game over another.
That said, a little perspective.
This was a fun event, a big event. Billions watched across the world and millions actually showed up just to be a part of it. That's news, and we treated it appropriately this morning.

The worst part about some of these people who "missed" a critical moment is that if they'd just stuck with us for a second at the beginning of our show...you saw the dress. Maybe you didn't see it the INSTANT she stepped out of the car, but you got a great look at it in our first newsblock. We went back to the Ceremony as they were doing vows, again when they were singing, again when they were it the carriage on the way back to Buckingham Palace.
The balcony kiss happened at 7:30...
So I'm having trouble understanding why that's a bad compromise for both the people who wanted to see the wedding and the people who really didn't care that much?

I don't think it was sad. I certainly don't think this ranks in the biggest events of the century. I feel pretty secure that this is not the kind of "news" we need to be paying more attention to.
Hundreds of people died in tornadoes this week, we have a 3000 soldiers from Iowa in Afghanistan, and we're not done covering a legislative session that's going to have a big impact on your everyday life.
This was fun, it was a reprieve from all of that. I think people put it well when they said we all need a little fairytale in our lives. It was a good break.

I appreciate all of the people who commented...positive or negative. The negative comments that were framed in a mature and even-handed way outnumbered the nasty emails. Most of those people also used their actual name.
Beyond the mere complaints we got a few comments that were particularly nasty from anonymous emailers. I always love reading those. I think if these people would read what they sent us tomorrow or maybe next week, they would be embarrassed that they acted like a four year-old having a tantrum. Criticisms is easy when it's anonymous.

With that, feel free to criticize our decision or comment on our coverage, the Wedding, whatever.
I hope you all have a good weekend!
PWD

Tornadoes, Twitter and Tirades

Good Morning!
We took the boys out to the Mall last night for some Chik-Fil-a and to watch the Pole Vault Event. First, let me compliment the Relays for getting this event going again at the mall. I don't know how the athletes feel about it but I thought the atmosphere was great!
i thought they'd get a kick out of it and they did...but Will wanted to ride the elevator more than he wanted to watch the Pole Vaulting...eventually he got too squirmy and we had to go. JT liked the Pole Vault a lot more than his brother. I left the Mall carrying him while he screamed, "Daaaaaaddddyyyy...I Want the Poooooollllleeeeeee, I want the Elevaaaaaaoooooooorrrrrrrr!!!!!"
It was a long ride home, but eventually we got settled in.
The problem was, an even longer night followed. We got to bed at a reasonable hour but at 10, just after we'd both fallen into a deep sleep, the power went out. Our monitor for the boys room starts beeping when it looses power. So we turned everything off, checked that it wasn't just our house, called Mid-American to report the outage and set my phone alarm just in case the power didn't come back on.
At 11:11 JT decided he needed me for something and started screaming. A few minutes together and we worked it out.
12:15 the power came back on...but the clock on the coffee maker needed to be reset and the plug for both our alarms (under the bed) had to be reset too. By about 12:40 I was trying to go back to sleep. I don't think that's what a Dr would recommend for proper rest. Thank goodness G Edwards brought us doughnuts and coffee.

Tornadoes
The historic and deadly string of storms rolled across Alabama and Georgia yesterday and killed nearly 200 people...in fact I bet it will be 200 by the time they get to everyone. Red Cross is taking donations as it usually does. Check their website for more info.

Birther2
Predictably the birthers have moved on. Now they're claiming it was the President's reluctance to show his birth certificate that reveals some critical flaw in his character. Sure...sure it does...
If I were the white House I would ask Every Member of Congress to produce a birth certificate. Most would be able to do it...most would look like the one the President produced yesterday, but I'd love to see one of these guys explain why his/her original was lost/stolen/burned in a fire etc. How do we REALLY know they were born in the US?

Twitter
So I'm working on using Twitter more. This morning I downloaded the twitpics app for iPhone. Hopefully I can figure out how to use it. If you want to pass the word...I'm @PatrickWDix if you'd like to follow.

Hope you have a great day!

5 year-old Murder,Romney Problem and Royal Wedding

Five year-old Murder
People used to say that when you have children, stories like this effect you more. They were right...they do. I actually get angry. I'm angry at the person who couldn't control themselves enough that that hurt a defenseless child.
I understand better now as a parent. There are times you'd like to forcefully deposit your kid in his crib. There are times they make you mad. As I encounter more of these situations I find my reaction is based on selfishness. They aren't doing what I want them to do...and I get angry...
The difference is that I am an adult and have to find the self control to help teach my children how to behave. I caught myself yelling at a particularly bad driver on the way home from the gym the other day. I yelled and laid on the horn. it scared the bejezus out of JT. It put into focus how our kids model our behavior...how they take cues from us...yelling from me will produce yelling from my kids. There are times and places for all kinds of discipline, but I find I am learning the more steady and firm I am with my kids...the more I praise their positive behavior, they respond in a positive way.
What does this have to do with the murder of a little girl? The adult in stat situation has to learn his/her behavior, maturity and self-control at an early age. I hope I am giving my kids the tools to be good parents now.

Finally
The President released the long form of his birth Certificate. I hope this puts the debate over his citizenship to rest. The minute I hear someone say..."Well this is just a piece of paper...it could be fabricated." That's the minute I call that person a racist. None of us can produce any evidence better than this. I have a birth certificate...I guess it could be fabricated...maybe it is...how do i know. That's the way the Birthers will keep this going...but I can't imagine how anyone with any sense of reason could think this is true....
I think people will start to see this for what it is and always has been... an effort to use the President's Heritage to scare people.

Romney's Problems
So I saw an article from The Hill this morning detailing the real problem with the Republican Primaries this year. Polls indicate in a general election Mitt Romney has an honest to God chance of beating president Obama. No one else is even close. Polls also indicate Romney's got problems in early states like Iowa.
Why? Apparently he's the Devil.
Seriously if you didn't know any better you'd swear some of the people who claim they want a change in the White House actually just want to keep their job criticizing the White House and raising money for their own salaries.
If Romney is the Candidate who's most likely to give President a run for his money; isn't he the candidate you want to see on the ballot?

Royal Wedding
So we put out our plans for coverage of the Royal Wedding. NBC starts its coverage early...3AM We're going to be on the air from 5-7 as normal. The continuous coverage of the wedding moves over to Channel 13.2. Brooke commented and I agree. i am surprised at the number of comments we got on Facebook when we asked about Royal wedding coverage. People either want to see the whole thing and are going to get up early to see it, or they want us to ignore it totally. i hope we are offering something of a middle ground. I suspect even the people totally annoyed by the pre-coverage will want to see a little of the coverage.

I hope you have a good day!
PWD

Early Setbacks, Confidence and Line-Up

Good afternoon,
I'm just getting to this because of a busy morning that got off to a terrible start.
I rushed a little getting ready so I could go pickup a couple things at Wal-mart. For those of you who have never seen a Wal-Mart overnight...it's really something. They're cleaning a large portion of the store, The grocery aisles are being re-stocked and are cluttered with pallets and boxes. The only people you see are employees or the odd early morning or late night worker picking up something before they head off or go home to sleep.

I got to the store and parked in front of the Grocery entrance on the north side of the building. When I got to the door it wouldn't open. They were cleaning the floors on that side of the store...so I had to run all the way down to the south end of the building...then run all the way around the cones and caution tape into the grocery section. When I got there...I found they didn't have any of the one thing I was there to pick up!
So I decided I was late anyway. I went over the the Hy-Vee and tried there. No luck.
Frustrated and late...I got to work.

-Consumer confidence went up again this morning. it's still a long way from indicating a healthy economy but any little bit helps. Ford's earnings news was also welcome this morning. What a turn-around. i was thinking the back story behind the company's decision not to take Federal Bailout money and it's resurgence as a brand would be a great story.

-Speaking of brands, I heard a great interview on NPR yesterday. It was with a guy who runs an online wine shop. He wrote a book called The Thank You Economy. I want to read it. His theory as I heard it,, is that social media has made it imperative for any business to put a laser focus on customers, He put a different twist on it though. He says he focuses on the customers he HAS. He treats them like Kings...then he waits for those customers to put the word out to their Facebook friends, their Twitter followers etc. He says that's the new way for a company to grow it's consumer base. Interesting idea...even for TV.

Line-up
We talked to Jeff Chelsvig, the President and CEO of the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, ion our Noon news today. they announced the Broadway line-up for the 2011/2012 season yesterday. Jeff said and I would agree, this is the best Broadway Series they've had since I lived here. La Cage a Folles, Memphis, Wicked, Billy Elliot and Rain. Not bad. I still have to see Wicked.

Visit
Our old Today in Iowa Producer Kristy came by with her sons this morning. they were both really intrigued by the set. the younger, Austin decided to slip up on to the set while Brooke was doing her Cut-ins for the Today show. Any other Mom would have freaked out, but Kristy, being the old TV producer knew that as long as Austin stayed quiet...it was OK. I'm sure none of you watching were any the wiser.

Flag Fail, Distracted and Easter

Good Morning (Happy 1,100 Morning Buzz Posts!)
I am going to go over a few things I let go on Friday because I wanted to post that explanation. We'll get to Easter as well...I hope you all had a good weekend!

Flag Fail
We learned another Iowa Solider died in Afghanistan. That makes three in about three weeks and almost a dozen wounded. We've been talking about the sacrifice our families were going to have to make but until now we've been talking about superficial things like time apart from families. Not that the time is unimportant but I think compared to this, ultimate sacrifice...it's just a different perspective.

I use that as a springboard to talk about the number of businesses that failed to lower their flags to half staff! I'm talking about national chains here. I noticed two right near each other a restaurant and then a gas station.

Kudos on flying a flag...that's great, but shouldn't someone have the time to go out and lower it to half staff? I don't know why but this one bothers me a lot. We have 3,000+ men and women from Iowa in harms way right now and people in this state should be focused on news from Afghanistan.




Fill'er-up
As I go to fill up my gas tank this morning I just can't believe someone at the oil companies hasn't grasped the idea that they could make a TON of PR headway this week. As you're out reporting a 59% increase in your profits from last year, why not do something to give your customers a little back. A rewards program...if you bring in your receipt from your last fill up we'll give you five percent off this one...something like that. If you are going to tell me you are making Billions of dollars and we're all struggling to fill up...wouldn't it be a great opportunity to at least appear as if you understand?


Impeachment
The Iowa GOP appears ready to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Five Lawmakers filed articles of impeachment for the four remaining Justices on the Iowa Supreme Court that were a part of the Same Sex Marriage ruling.

I talked to a guy who's pretty connected in the GOP here in Iowa and asked him...when are the people who are rolling their eyes at this stuff going to take back the Republican Party. Everyone, no matter how moderate is going to get this hung around their necks. A lot of Republicans say they don't dare speak up because they'll be labeled ant-morals, anti-values, anti-family whatever...


Distracted
SO there's a study showing some of us are MORE distracted than others behind the wheel. Some of us c an multi-task...and are dangerous behind the wheel. Some of us can not multi-task and are REALLY dangerous behind the wheel. I'll be keeping the iPhone on the console.

Wedding
A conversation in the Newsroom just caught my ear and reminded me to start telling our viewers. We are going to air our normal broadcast Friday morning during the Royal wedding. We will be airing the royal wedding coverage on 13.2. So the only place you wouldn't be able to get that signal is Direct TV...but you should be able to get the signal if you like. I suspect, however, that if you are watching Direct TV and want to see the wedding, there will be a few other places airing...just a bit....of the coverage.

Twitter
We had an interesting story about the power of Social Media this morning. American Airlines has a full time Tweet-master to respond to customer concerns. So I am going to try to jump back into the world of Twitter. I'm still not sure I understand and I still am not sure I have a clear idea in my head of what is, and what isn't important enough to Tweet. But we'll give it another try. For the record I am @PatrickWDix. I would love a few more followers.
Also that reminds me the panel I am speaking on is this week. For those who didn't see, I was asked to talk about our blog, why we write it and how it has helped/challenged our product in the morning.
Anyone who's come to this conversation lately may not have had the chance to respond, but if you would like to, shoot me an email patrick.dix@whotv.com and let me know what you like or dislike about the blog. I will use some of that feedback to help me form my thoughts for this panel discussion.
And thanks for all your comments lately.




Easter

After a great Pancake and bacon breakfast we started the boys on a very easy hunt for Easter baskets. Sally put them out on the table on our patio...thankfully it was "just" warm enough to sit out their while the boys went through and looked at their new puzzles and toy cars and trains...
Noontime Update: My sister Katie was very disappointed to find she was not included in the blog this morning as she came a long way to visit this weekend. She did, and that was my bad. We had a lovely weekend.
My omission was nothing more than an effort to be done blogging...I was falling asleep writing the last part. So, I can only say...I blame the cat.


We spent the evening with our friends the Groves and the Eckermans. Lynette (Groves) takes care of the boys (and Sally and I) during the week. Their neighbors came over for an Easter egg "hunt" in the backyard. The food was great and the boys had a lot of fun.









Back home to watch the end of the Blackhawks game and it was a good Easter weekend!



I hope you all had a good one too.



Have a good day

PWD

Thanks for the Comments!

Good Morning!
Well apparently I said something yesterday that struck a chord...either that or our contest the last few weeks has helped us pick us a few more readers...either way I'm glad you have come here to read this blog. For those of you who haven't been here since 06 when we started, a little review.

We started out this blog with the intention of bringing you a little more. The idea is that we see a lot more information than we have time to share. I'll see links to the raw data of a study...op/ed articles that give opinions on the issues we talk about etc. That's how we started.

Things evolve and we certainly did. After a while we were talking a little bit more about our personal lives and we were injecting our opinions in some cases as well. That's a slippery slope for a journalist. If you'd asked me in 2006, I would have told you I wanted to stay as far away from opinion as possible. As we've continued this conversation my opinion on that has evolved.

Advocating for a certain position all the time is not a journalists job. Here's the definition I use to describe what I try to do...
"Seek Truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and be accountable". It's from The Society of Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics.

Now, there would be A LOT of journalists that would say this blog violates the idea of acting independently. That's what many of you commented on yesterday. I look at what's written about the rest of that tenet when I think about this blog...
It says...

Journalists should:
—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
—
Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or
damage credibility.
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special
treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office
and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic
integrity.
— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
— Be vigilant and
courageous about holding those with power accountable.
— Deny favored
treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to
influence news coverage.
— Be wary of sources offering information for
favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

So that's the gold standard...I certainly fall short sometimes.
The sticky one is avoiding perceived conflicts of interest. I can certainly see how a reasonable person would see my writing here as a perceived conflict with delivering the news in a fair way. I would disagree. I DO think you can be a fair journalist acting within the boundaries of that code and still offer your own thoughts and observations. Independence is the key...

If I am fair in the way I ask questions...if I hold both sides of an issue to the same standards...I think you can still be fair. I hope that's the way I've written this blog.

Maybe most of all, I think being fair means being open to all sides of an argument...even if it's one you've had before. I hope I continue to ask questions of people I disagree with. I hope I continue to try to learn as much as I can about issues. I hope YOUR opinions help me consider questions I hadn't before.
If all of those things happen I think this blog holds a valuable place in our news product.

As I've said here before...I think there are a lot of Republicans who read this and wouldn't count me as a member of their party. I think Democrats would say the same thing. I always say, if both sides are mad at you every once in while you're doing your job.

I hope that helps answer some of your concerns. If you have questions I will try to answer them as best I can.
I hope you all have a good weekend!
PWD

Catching up, Non-Apology, Really?

I'm playing a little catch up with the blog. Sorry bout the last two days. In part it's a lack of things to talk about but I admit it's also that I get sucked in to doing this and an hour later...I'm still writing.

To combat that, I'm starting early...It's 6:20...here I go...



Branstad Income
I was disappointed to see some people's reaction to Governor Branstad's tax return release. The guy earned a lot of money last year...key word...he earned it and shouldn't be ashamed of it. The Democratic Party sent out a release trying to say the Governor is asking State workers to sacrifice while he's raking in money.
They mocked The Governor's statement that he left a pretty lucrative job in the private sector to run for Gov. Here's the simple truth, He did. It's not like being Governor means going to the poorhouse but he could have continued to make a lot more money than he is now...he chose to serve his state instead.
On the issue of income, The Governor made money from a personal retirement account, he sits on corporate Boards and he got a small amount of money from his state pension. Why is it that people feel the need to blame Branstad for his success? It's as if they think we all should make the same amount of money. The Governor worked for his income last year...he saved and benefited through a retirement account and he served the state through four terms. He is benefiting from that work.

-A short break to tell you why we were laughing as we came out to talk to Greg Edwards about the weekend. Anyone who knows Greg knows he's a funny guy. Not sure where this even came up but Greg started it...Brooke picked it up in the middle and Greg finished it. Between the two of them the phrase, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free." came up...then the camera came on! Funny...

Non-Apology Apology
Why is it intolerance when a Republican sends out a nasty email and it's simply an error in judgement when a Democrat does it? If you have strong opinions, be ready for someone to make light of your thoughts. College Republicans on the University of Iowa Campus are having a "coming out" week. They planned some events including an "animal rights BBQ" that offended a University professor...so she hit reply-all and dropped an f-bomb on all Republicans. Charming.
The worst part was the disingenuous apology the professor put out where she scolds the Republicans. You were wrong...leave it at that.
When did we all lose the ability to laugh at ourselves. There are serious issues we should debate and that conversation should be civil. You may not like the way the College Republicans are promoting their "Coming out" week but they have the right to do it. They have the right to satirize their opponents views. In fact, if I were a gay rights advocacy group I would try to turn this one around and challenge Republicans. They might say, How does it feel to be in the minority in Iowa City...to have everyone feel like you're out of touch? To have everyone feel like the way you live your life is wrong?
This exchange shows intolerance lives on both sides of the spectrum...


Birthers Strike Again
I read a story that said 48% percent of likely Caucus goesers don't believe The President was born in the United States.
Polls like this will be the fuel for Republicans to take away Iowa's status as the First in the nation Caucus. Democrats Caucused in record numbers for a candidate that went on to win their party's nomination. Republicans have moved toward Caucusing for candidates that end up being irrelevant six weeks into the nominating process.
Look at New Hampshire, they do a lot of talking about limited government, spending and fiscal conservatism. Social Issues can certainly help guide party's philosophy, but the fact that so many people polled buy into a story that's been disproved over and over and over...it's ammunition to send Iowa voters to the back burner.

Vilsack's in
Christy Vilsack looks like she's spoiling for a fight with Iowa's most conservative Congressman. He doesn't seem all that worried about and even made a joke of her potential candidacy. I'm not sure I would underestimate her. This is the race I am most looking forward to.

Giving up
We were at the Gym last night and just couldn't come up with anything for dinner. We gave up and agreed to go out to dinner. Famous Dave's always does a great job of dealing with our messy, and at times, loud kids. Plus, they have paper towels right at the table.
We used about a half roll after JT decided he wanted a drink from Mommy's glass. The glass tipped and Sally had ice water underwear for the rest of the meal. She handled it like a champ...
Swimming tonight instead of a workout...I'm glad. I got a new workout Tuesday and my legs are KILLING me!

Have a good one!
PWD

Rain/Snow, Debt,and Decisions

Good Morning!

I hope you all survive the wet cold weather...It's a mess out there. A guy called the newsroom around 8:30 to say it was snowing just north of Jefferson. About 20 miles south of here(and really here in DSM) it's pouring rain and you can hear the thunder all over. Stay dry.

Debt
White House trying to ramp up pressure on Republicans to cave and raise the US debt ceiling for the last couple weeks, but The administration got a little help from Standard and Poor's when the rating agency downgraded the outlook of US debt. We're not messing around here anymore. Play with this grenade and you could find it going off next to your foot. I say that to the myriad Presidential hopefuls who are screaming about cutting spending. I don't disagree spending cuts need to get serious, but it's hard to take these people seriously because they don't seem to have a grasp of the situation as it stands today. Raising the debt ceiling over and over was a chronic problem and something Congress did without thinking about it. This...is not that.

EPA
I got to sit in on a conversation with eh EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson this morning. She visited the newsroom at the invitation of Ken Root. The Agribusiness report will have more of their conversation about farming issues and EPA regulation today at Noon.
I asked her how an agency that regulates Steel Mills in Indiana is supposed to have the flexibility and understand the specific issues farmers were dealing with where the environment is concerned? She answered well, I thought, and seemed to know her stuff.
You can tell pretty quickly when someone isn't familiar with all of the issues they need to be and are "faking" their way through the day. She seems to have a handle on the issues facing Agriculture and an ability to articulate her Agency's position.

Decision
Good for Harrison Barnes for staying at UNC. Good for me and the rest of the people who count themselves fans of college basketball. Watching him play will be appointment TV next fall.

Trucks
For whatever reason JT decided he was scared of trucks the other day. I'm not sure why but the UPS guy pulling up in front of the house at nap time set him off and he started crying in his crib. When Lynette went up to see what was the matter JT was just repeating over and over through his sobbing, "It's just a truck...it's just a truck".
He did the same thing with Sally and I the last couple nights. Now, there was no truck outside at the time and I'm not sure what set him off but Sal just walked in and asked what was wrong. When JT told her she replied..."You're not scared of trucks buddy." To which JT replied, "OK" and went back to sleep.
That was easy.

I left this out of the posting from Friday and Monday but I got an iPhone Friday. I am having a good time. Anyone with "must have" apps...you let me know.

Hope you have a good day.
PWD

Late Monday, Tulip Time and TV

Good Afternoon...

Sorry it's late, but better late then never.

I'll make it short and sweet.

Tax Day

So that was my tax guy this morning on the news. We've used the same person for a few years giving tax advice so we decided to try someone new. I volunteered my guy...

Also for the record, I said Friday I was going to have to pay taxes for the first time in forever...I was wrong. I went to pick up and sign my taxes Friday and I found out I was actually getting something back...

Tornado outbreak

Hundreds of tornadoes tore through the south and southeast and the stories of when the tornadoes came through town are heartbreaking. Some of these storms were on the ground for 20 miles.

Almost four dozen people died and hundreds more were hurt.

Tulip Time

Meanwhile here in Des Moines the weather turned cold. We wondered right away how that's going to effect tulips in Pella. 16 days till tulip time and the Queen's Court came to visit today. the brought their usual spread of Pella treats. My bet is it will be gone before I hit the newsroom at one PM. Tulip time is Mother's Day Weekend.

TV

We are getting a lesson in why TV can be good and why it can be so evil with kids. After a particularly bad Sunday we decided to wave the white flag and let the boys watch some Tv while we ate dinner. that was more for us than it was fgor them. The result was a study in why TV may be a bad idea for kids. Look at JT! I had to spoon feed the kid....literally.

I hope you had a relaxing weekend. back with more tomorrow!

PWD

Another Bad Day, Opening Day, and Bully???

Good Morning I woke up this morning to my alarm going off and "I'm Alright" playing on the radio. Think Caddyshack...Kenny Loggins. Anyway it was a fitting start to a Friday...I'm doing the Gopher dance all day.

The News

Another Bad Day

I hope we don't have any more weeks like this one. Two Iowa soldiers killed in Afghanistan is two too many.

Budgets

I understand how it works but it's ridiculous that The State hasn't come up with an Education budget yet. The law should be amended to say schools have 30 days from the time the Governor signs their budget to finalize for next school year.

Redistricting

We've been saying that two of Iowa's new Congressional Districts now encompass two incumbent Congressman and that is technically true, but I doubt there's any way they run against each other. Lobesack will move to the news 2nd District. I'd bet tom Lathham moves too.

Birther

So Arizona passed a Birther Bill, requiring anyone to show proof they're a US Citizen before they can be on the ballot as a Presidential Candidate. Great, all anyone in Arizona has to do is look at the 1000 reports from Hawaii and it's officials on the authenticity of President Obama's citizenship. Seriously, play the tape to the end people...think it through. You're inventing a conspiracy that would have had to involve thousands of people over 50 years...AND they would have had to know the kid was going to be PRESIDENT!!!!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again, people who make THIS their argument why the President shouldn't hold office...are either totally ignorant of politics or are trying to sell me something. That's a little scary because if you actually are a serious conservative thinker...there are about 1000 policy points you should be able to have a substantive debate over. We need more Statesman, not more Salesmen....

Sheenturn

So an Urbandale woman is a finalist to be Charlie Sheen's Intern. No way. I wouldn't do it. I was lucky to have an internship where I actually had a job to do. No getting coffee (thought I offered a few times and got dinner once or twice). Jeriann wanted to know if you'd intern for Sheen. The consensus seems to be No. I thought some of the other choices of who you think would be hard on an intern were interesting. Hillary Clinton...The Donald. For the record, Jeriann did not bully me into posting that question...I just thought it was good.

One last thing on Sheen. He's doing this "comedy tour" and did a show in Canada last night. Some guy stood up at the end of the idiotic show and said, "What the (h-e-double hockey sticks) was that?" I'm sorry sir, what did you expect? You signed up to see a train wreck and you don't like the result when you get one?

Nahhhhhh

So Kevin Na is a professional golfer that made all of us weekend duffers feel a lot better yesterday. He made a 16...on ONE HOLE!

Opening Day

Cubbie Bear was nice enough to come down and advise Jeriann on her wardrobe if she's coming down to Principal Park tonight for the I-Cubs opener. He also did the happy dance. The Bear has moves.

F-150

If you have a 2004-2006 f-150 and you are part of the recall, From Consumer Reports first notice of the action:

Ford explains that "during assembly, a specific airbag wire located in the steering wheel could have been improperly positioned so that it may chafe, expose bare copper and create the potential for a short circuit that would illuminate the warning lamp. If not serviced, and unique circumstances occur, an inadvertent driver frontal airbag deployment may occur."

Let Them Eat Pie

Annette Hacker of Iowa State was nice enough to stop by with some pies from VEISHEA. What a great tradition. I wonder how she knew we would like those cherry pies? For the record the pies are for sale Friday and Saturday and the $1 goes to scholarships.

And Ooooppps!

The post office put out a stamp of Lady Liberty, but it's not the real thing. It's the statue in front of the NYNY Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas! The PO is going to keep the stamp. NY is ticked off.

Have a great day!

PWD

Dueling Plans, Dozing VP and Spring Spheres?

Good Morning!

Jeriann says the weather is going to turn a little bit. Due respect to the perfect days we've been having...my yard could use some rain. I'm obsessed with growing grass on my front lawn. I don't know why but a well manicured lawn is important to me. It says something about you...I get an unreasonable amount of satisfaction looking at my lawn after it's mowed.

To the News

Deuling Plans

So the Prez made a speech yesterday that's rightly being called the opening salvo in his 2012 election campaign. Someone has convinced him that arguing over the debt is going to make a good campaign issue so like other Politicians we discussed yesterday, they'll throw road blocks up to actually working together and doing something difficult in favor of keeping their jobs.

The guy I feel for is Rep Paul Ryan. He put out a plan that a lot of people in his own party don't like... It's political suicide, and he believes in it! He was invited to the President's Speech Wednesday and according to NBC's Political team, he was thinking the President was going to meet him halfway so they could get something big done on Medicare. Instead The President trashed Ryan's ideas and signaled it's "game on".

As for the President's proposals...imagine, if you will,l that you're a 12 year-old...you get an allowance from your parents. When you've spent all the money and go back to your parents for more...do you think your parents would buy the argument that it's not your spending that's the problem...it's that you don't have enough money?

I don't think that would have worked for me. It's a simple analogy but the people who are saying this is a spending problem are at least partially right. We've got to spend less. A tax increase may be appropriate but it might seem a lot more credible if MAJOR spending overhauls were in place first. Ryan's ideas may be too draconian...he may not be right, but for now he's the only one taking a serious stab at the actual problem.

Dozing VP

We made the VP's catnap into our Facebook question this morning and you guys came up with some funny responses. I've never head of someone falling asleep at their own wedding...then again he did clarify it was his 1st wedding!

No criticism of Joe Biden...we've all been there.

Taxes

Before we get off politics altogether, A new poll shows Americans think the amount they pay in taxes is fair. We debated this during our breaks and the consensus seemed to be that if we all had to write a check to the government every quarter for our taxes...that number would be lower.

When it comes right out of your check most of us don't even think about it.

It's actually a great way to save money too...if you never see it, you never feel it.

Dog Abuse

An Ottumwa woman is charged with animal neglect after police went into her Urbandale motel room and found two adults and a littler of puppies, underfed and living in their own feces. I understand being an animal lover...I understand the connection...I love our cat. Here's my problem...you come first, and if you can't afford food for yourself, how are you going to afford food for your pet. How is that fair to the animal? The thing that bothered me most is the police report that the animals were eating cigarette butts. You have money to buy cigarettes but not take care of the dogs? Heck, you could practically pay rent with the money you have to fork over for cigarettes.

We have choices, and we shouldn't act as if someone backed us into a corner when we make them.

Spring Spheres

So a former boss of mine sent me the link to a story out of Seattle. Some school told a girl volunteering there that from now on they were going to refer to Easter Eggs as "Spring Spheres". I'll say I don't know if this story is true...

Really? We can't learn anything as a society from the lessons of Easter? Understanding a religion's central and most important day isn't a good way of forging understanding with other religious traditions?

Stop the world, I wanna get off.

I hope you have a good day.

PWD

Sacrifice, Sharing, and Breaking up

Good morning... I love our friends the Wallers. I love sleep. Since I can't be in two places at once, something had to give and last night it was my sleep. We had a GREAT time out to dinner with our friends at Djengo. Getting a good night sleep is important but it's hard to express how much a night of good conversation and a healthy amount of laughing can make you feel even better than sleep. We planned on being done with dinner by eight thirty or so. Sally looked down at her watch and suddenly it was nine-thirty. So I was down by ten and it was a short night but no complaints...it was worth it!

Sacrifice
We got a heads up from the National Guard yesterday about its announcement. Unfortunately you know what they're going to say. It is a reality of having so many Iowa Soldiers over in Afghanistan. As they said last night, one soldier lost is one too many, but this man died doing what he felt was his duty. He was there for all of us, and for that we can be grateful. We posted a place on our Facebook page to put your thoughts for the family and to express thanks for the soldiers who are still overseas. I hope someone will point the families in that direction so they can see how appreciative Iowans are of their sacrifice.

Budget
Any way you slice it, it will be painful to get out of the kind of debt The United States has racked up. The President rolls out his plans today and word is, it will include a tax increase. Medicare, Medicade and Social Security should also be in the mix. What's funny is that Medicare cuts that Republicans used against Dems in last fall's elections are part of the REPUBLICAN proposal to reign in the debt! It proves that there are only so many ways to knock this much money off the national credit card balance. It also goes back to what I was saying. A lot of these politicians are in this to gain or retain power...they're not there to fix problems... we could use more leadership and a few more public servants.

TSA Screenings
I saw the video of a six year-old being patted down at the airport screening. Why is this a big deal? That little girl is a passenger, if this truly is random screening, she may get picked. It seems like the TSA worker did a good job of keeping the Mom with the child, explaining what was going on and being gentile with the little girl. This is the cost of flying in the 21st century. If you don't want to go through a screening...drive. I don't fly on a regular basis but I can tell you I've been pulled aside for additional screening twice and I can't say it bothered me either time. I have nothing to hide, they didn't treat me like a criminal...they checked me and I moved on. Why is this such a big deal?

AP Help
Students from Aplington Parkersbug High School are headed to Mapelton Iowa today to help them clean up. Who better to help these people who've lost everything. Not only are they paying forward the kindness show to their community...these students can offer a perspective of hope to these people who must feel so hopeless right now. They are proof you can rebuild, things will get better...

Bcycle
Megan Reuther featured a service many of you may have seen in downtown Des Moiens but didn't know a lot about. The kiosks are various places downtown and the idea is that over your lunch hour you might like to go down to the East Village for a bite to eat or something like that. If you took your car you might drive around looking for a parking place...clog up traffic etc... With the bike, you take it where you're going...drive it back to the office and you're done. It's also a great way to get a little exercise in.

Breaking Up
So I told you yesterday I'm in the process of breaking up with my various media companies. I did the TV earlier in the week and was going to move the hone too. I got on the phone with another company who informed me I could get their incentive deal for the first year. It would shave five dollars off the price of the phone service. Then she told me I would have to pay a $35 "one time" fee for that hook-up. What if I didn't want to pay the fee, I said. Then you pay $40/month but no fee. So let me get this straight...the "deal" really isn't a deal at all. I'd end up saving $15 bucks...and I bet there are more hidden fees. No deal...

The Journey
Our night out was precipitated by the second program in a series of talks called "The Journey". You might remember I wrote about this after the first one. the downtown Chamber got I-Cubs owner Michael Gartner (opening day is Aprin 15th), to interview prominent members of the business community about their "journey". Last night's guest was Des Moines Register Publisher Laura Hollingsworth. It was, as always interesting. I was particularly interested in last night's conversation because it deals with someone in my industry. Drake President David Maxwell is up next. Check the Downtown Chamber's website for more information and to get tickets to the next conversation. We'll be there for sure. I hope you have a good day!

PWD

Shootings, Globetrotter, and Back to the Mailbag

Good Morning! If this post seems random and a little scatter brained...it may be because someone parked a running car near the air intake on our ventilation system. The exhaust then filters through our system and into the studio and control room. I have a wicked headache.

Shootings
An Attorney General's report found officers were justified in shooting a Keokuk County man after he shot at Sheriff's Deputies. The State Patrol's tactical team shot the man several times. You don't get to approach authorities with a gun...you certainly don't get to shoot them. I know this man struggled with mental illness so the Governor's proposal to reform Mental Health Care is well timed. It seems to me this is another thing (like schools) we need to reform the way we fund. Mental health care should not be determined by how many neighbors you have or how much their home is worth.

Bachman
So Rep. Michelle Bachman say Republicans should have held out in order to de-fund Planned Parenthood? If I'm repeating myself I apologize but does anyone think abortion in this country will stop is you stopped giving planned Parenthood Federal funding? For those just joining this conversation, it is already illegal to use federal funds for abortion. Planned Parenthood already raises much of it's funding privately...So what would suffer here? The answer is programs that screen women for cervical cancer, breast cancer and...oh yeah...birth control for thousands of women who would now...wait for it...GET PREGNANT!!! You could argue that along with being the biggest provider of abortions, PPH is also the biggest abortion preventer. How many of these women would seek an abortion after getting pregnant because they had no family planning options? The argument of Federal dollars going to this health care program should happen. it should receive the same scrutiny as other social service programs...but this is an ideological fight that has no place in a conversation about the budget.

Globetrotter
We had a visit from one of the Globetrotters this morning. The team is in town Sunday to play their longtime opponent the Washington Generals. The Generals have a secret weapon. See Murphy's Law for an update. Wun The Shot Versher came in to talk about the game and one of the team's new initiatives. They're trying to push a 4 point shot...no kidding. Also Wun helped answer one of the most frequently made comments I get when I am out and about...Yes Jeriann is that short and Yes I am taller than I look apparently.

The Switch
So I made the switch to satellite TV last night. I couldn't justify nearly doubling of my bill per month...so I went through the inconvenience of switching. The result is good. I've got Golf Channel in HD. I don't begrudge my old carrier it's business choice, I just feel like there had to be another way, and I tried to explain that THREE times. I'll be interested to see if this has any real impact on our TV viewing.

And back to the Mailbag
Sen Harkin's office called yesterday after reading our blog. Thanks, first of all, for reading it...I hope you'll all be regulars! Second, they said they felt like they made the Senator available on a regular basis to talk to us. I made the point that in the context of satellite interviews for TV, Sen Grassley's office is more regular about the offer. They told me they'd be willing to do satellite interviews with us whenever we ask. So next time we interview Sen Grassley in the morning. We are making the request of Sen Harkin too. Note to ourselves: we also need to do a better job of informing our audience that we made the offer. Hope you all have a great day! PWD

Spring Storms, Mailbag, and Meltdown

Good Morning...What a weekend. We were going through the show this morning when we got in and every story was a big story that would normally lead our newscast. Kudos to our crews that hustled thier butts off this weekend to cover all of the weather and news! So lets get to it Weather We were still talking about the clean-up this morning because it's going to take weeks if not months. It's worth repeating how good a job out weekend crews did bringing those overnight storms to viewers Sunday Morning. I turned the TV on before Today in Iowa Sunday came on the air and I had no idea there were even tornadoes. Sally came downstairs after I'd turned the TV off. She'd been watching Today in Iowa upstairs and told me I had to turn the TV on. Great job guys! Shooting Brooke and I both have friends in Realty so we were both concerned when we heard the news about the shooting of (by all accounts) a wonderful young woman. I think it would be easy to jump to the conclusion those was someone she knew... It's harder to wrap your brain around a random event Budget Deal So we got a deal done in the eleventh hour. Doesn't help the longer term discussion about the national debt and that's what we're going to talk about this week. One thing. I've heard a lot of interviews where someone says it was AARP that sinks any talk of reforming Medicare Medicaid and Social Security. I hope AARP comes to the table ready to talk. I say you can't fully address our national debt until some kind of SIGNIFICANT reform is undertaken. You watch, the people who try to talk about this will be demonized and eviscerated....but they're the ones to listen to. That's the only way we get this thing under control. Mailbag That lady emailed me and finally told me why she thinks we're so far "right wing". She says we always interview Sen Grassley and not Sen Harkin. For the record. I can't remember a time in my 12 years that Sen Harkin has EVER offered himself up for a Satellite interview. In fact, when he does talk to local media, it's via phone (not exactly good for TV) and he has one of his staffers controlling the phone so it's next to impossible to have a real exchange. Sen Grassley's office calls all the time to offer him up for an interview. He does not set the topic...he'll talk about anything. He is also in town quite a bit and will come meet you to do an on camera interview. Getting any kind of access to Sen Harkin may actually take an act of Congress. That's why we don't talk to him more. Sen Harkin has a standing invitation to talk to us on Today in Iowa. Masters What a tournament! What a finish! What a charge! What a meltdown! The masters had it all. I was happy as a viewer to see Tiger play well. I said Saturday that he needed to shoot 65 to win. I would have been right. It was hard to watch Rory McElroy. However, he handled defeat with grace and composure. He showed he understands how to be a professional. That's the lesson I would want my kids to walk away with. Weekend Disappointments Sally's Dad was in town this weekend and we went to the Zoo. we have a membership so I didn't pay but if I did,Ii would have been disappointed. They are trying to improve the Zoo and I applaud that. However, while they work, they could make it easier to get around. We got to the Lions and had to walk all the way around the Zoo to get to the next exhibit and see the Tigers. Disappointing. I hope you have a good day.

Blame Game, Playground, and Nice Comments

Good Morning! This one is for Jeriann who sent me a message on Facebook this morning wondering why the blog wasn't done RIGHT AFTER the show now that the computer at the desk has been rescued from the blue screen of death. The answer is all of the great Facebook feedback we've been getting! I was really excited to see so many of you jumping into the conversation with us it was also a lot to keep up with this morning. We'll try to get that daily question up as early as possible so we can respond during the show. Some of you are also posting questions and pother nice comments. we really appreciate them and are grateful you include us in your morning routine. Remember to "like" us on Facebook if you haven't already. You will be entered into a sweepstakes to win great prizes. We're giving away an iPad today. If you already like us...thanks. All you have to do is visit our Facebook page, look on the left side of the page and click on the sweepstakes information. You enter your info every day and you will get a chance to win every day. Blame Game We were surprised to see so many people saying it was The President and Dems responsible for the impasse in Congress over the Budget. Not because we believe differently, just because it was striking how many comments went the Repubs way early. Then The Democrats chimed in around 6am and it got more even...Conclusion...Republicans are early risers. Playground We've been debating getting a play system in our backyard since the weather started turning. Sally and I went out shopping yesterday. Now I know some of you are going to say we could have gone to Costco or Sam's or Menard's or whatever for a less expensive system but we went to two retailers that deal exclusively with these play systems. We were shocked at the price. $5000 for a swing set/jungle gym? seemed like a lot. The quality was great and we feel like our kids might even get that much use out of it, but it just seemed like a lot to spend on two two year-olds. Blind Side Also went to see Leann and Sean Tuohy last night at Hoyt Sherman. What a great talk! I thought their message really hit home. If they hadn't turned their car around and found out what was going on one cold night in Memphis, Michael Oher might be dead right now instead of a multi-millionaire playing football in the NFL. Whats more a kid that was totally forgotten in the schools turned out to be someone who made the Chancellor's list in College. It makes a good case for giving kids all the opportunities they can to succeed. They also tried to hit home that it doesn't take a big gesture to change someone's life. You never know how the smallest kindness can turn someone's day, and their life around. It's something to think about every day. If anyone else was there I'd be interested in what you thoughts. One more thing from the talk. They opened it up for questions after about an hour of really inspirational stuff...how we treat one another...how we value each other...one person can make a difference...that kind of thing. I don't know about anything else butIi was thinking about how to make a difference in my world. So what was the 1st question? Some guy asked what Taco Bell did with the Chihuahua they used to use for advertising!(Sean owns Taco Bell franchises in Memphis) Really? I just thought that was out of contest a little. Hope you all have a great day!

Shutdown, Pay Up and Once in a Lifetime

Good Morning!

The computer shutdown is in day five. Blue screen of death continues to hold my computer hostage at the desk. Jeriann says she saw our engineers working on it so I am assuming the problems are significant...That also means I have two copilots for my blogging again this morning.

Shutdown

On to the actual looming shutdown of the Federal Government. The two sides met again last night late at the White House. All three sides of this say they are close in principal...they just can't agree on how much to cut. There was an interesting article about whether the Republican party and particularly the Tea Party was overplaying it's hand here. i think the answer is approaching yes. Cutting spending is the goal of Tea Party Repubs...They're doing that. They can keep doing it in next year's budget.

Trump Round the Bend

Like one of his reality shows, I got sucked in for like thirty seconds...but I've shaken off the mind numbing haze and realize, Donald Trump is round the bend.

He went on the Today show this morning claiming there's a "real possibility" The President wasn't born in The United States.

I've said before, the scale of the conspiracy he's talking about is massive. There's ZERO possibility the chain of people who would have had to fake a document or keep that secret wouldn't have talked. Try to keep a secret in your office, in your Church community...whatever. Anyone who's tried knows it doesn't work...especially today. Anyone who tries to forward the idea that The President's birth certificate isn't real...is either trying to sell you something or is playing off of base fears to forward their own agenda.

Speaking of I got another email from The Family Leader this morning. It said they had more interest in their statewide tour than they could have hoped for. They say...because of that success...they need you to donate more money to them. Now I'm no math major but if you had more people who were passionate about your cause walk into your statewide series of events, wouldn't you have more immediate donors already? I just don't think it's coincidence that they ask for money in EVERY email.

Pay Up

Brooke and I were talking about the Indigent Lawyer fund this morning. The Legislature agreed to fund the 13 million we owe these lawyers and I think that's the right thing to do. The Governor disagrees with the way they took the money from another budget line. He's trying to get the State's books back in shape. This is what he ran on. After 12 years of budgeting with smoke and mirrors, he's trying to make sure the state has the money to pay the things it wants and needs. I agree withThe Governor's approach. Blaming the Governor for this one is like blaming the plumber who comes to fix a jerry-rigged system and not the guy who put it in incorrectly in the first place.

Once in a Lifetime

The group of Cancer survivors who are headed to Mt Everest to hike to base camp got us thinking and sparked out Facebook Question. Where would you go for your once in a lifetime trip. not a vacation you could take anytime, but once in a lifetime.

Jeriann says she wants to see U2 in Ireland, Brooke says she would tour the Holy Land, Brad said he would follow Marco Polo's Route, I said I would like to Start at Normandy and visit significant places Americans fought in WWII.

Where would you go? I thought you had some good answers so far!

I hope you have a good time dreaming about your once in a lifetime trip...and then come up with a way to make it happen...

PWD

P.S. Thanks to all of you who sent your impressions of the blog and how you use the content here. Anyone else who wants to add thoughts I would appreciate them (patrick.dix@whotv.com).

I am sitting on a panel that's going to discuss Social Media, Blogs and other alternate ways we are connecting with our audience in a week or two.

I would love to hear the thoughts of the people who use this blog daily. What do you look for here?

Blue Screen of Death: Day five

We'll catch up with the blog ofter the show. Sorry for the delay!

Like Grownups, Yard work and Masters

Good Morning!

I blog from home again this morning because my computer on the Anchor desk continues to display the Blue Screen of Death. It's low on the priority list when you have dozens of technical issues that will keep the TV Station running/upgrading/or advancing. It does make it hard to blog during the show. So here I am at home with help from my co-blogger Will. He's not as helpful as he thinks he is.

Like Grownups

So the president says everyone needs to start acting like adults so they can get a budget passed. I don't disagree but he might want to start conveying that sentiment to the senate Majority and House Minority Leaders. Speaker Boehner can pass the message to his guys too...there's plenty of childishness to go around. This is the difference between politicians and Statesmen. We need a few Statesmen, unfortunately all we have a a few dime-a-dozen politicians.

Statehouse

Per our soundbyte on education spending. I don't think Lawmakers ever have a duty to spend our money. They have a duty to spend our money wisely.

K2

Someone called and asked us to tell the "other side" of the K2 story. for those of you who don't know, K2 is a synthetic drug. When you smoke it, it gives a similar effect to marijuana as i understand it. This guy called really upset telling us we didn't know what we were presenting a biased view of K2. He went so far as to accuse this family who lost their son to suicide of being bad Parents...I thought that went too far.

I don't know what it's like to live with debilitating chronic pain, or to be in debilitating pain during treatment of a disease like cancer. I have no idea how hard that must be. We have Doctors who are trained to deal with patients who are experiencing these symptoms. What our Mad caller fails to see is that this family isn't asking that legitimate drugs be taken out of Doctors hands. If K2 is a legitimate treatment for pain, let it go through FDA trials and approval....lets learn about K2 and Drs can prescribe it. If it's legitimate, only people who really NEED this drug should be using it. I don't think that's what this guy wants though...he wants to go down the street and just buy the stuff himself...cause he knows best.

The Rozga family certainly has it's own motivations for banning K2 and one could argue they have baggage that doesn't allow them to see all sides of the story. That's fine. It doesn't mean they're wrong. It doesn't mean K2 doesn't need to be regulated. We should learn more and I think that's ultimately what this family wants...

Yard Work

Three hours in the yard yesterday and I think we're good to go for the spring. The neighbors say it looks great when it's in bloom. i hope so.

Masters

Golf Channel has coverage of The Masters all week and I couldn't be happier. MSNBC is including some of the articles. if you love this week as much as I do...you'll want to check it out.

Hope you have a good day!

PWD

Post Show Blogging: Catching up

Good Morning... I was hoping the Blue Screen of Death would be banished from my computer this morning but alas...not to be. So I had to post show blog. I feel like I'm cut off from the world while we're out on that set without a computer. Another reason I may break down and just get an iPhone 4 rather than waiting for the 5. Lets Catch Up Budget1 So the Federal Budget is on a deadline again. They have to get something on paper by tonight so they can vote on it by Friday. That would mean no Government shut-down. So the deadline is really today. I have to say the rhetoric on this one is pretty lame from both sides. I get that a lot of these Freshman Republicans were elected to cut the budget. Good, lets trim spending. But you can't just come in and lop off billions in the budget. Big decisions need to be made...funny that no one seems to be willing to deal with the really big problem...entitlements. On the other side of the aisle Democrats break out their greatest hits to paint Republicans as heartless barbarians who are trying to make sure public school kids starve to death in a filthy room with no teacher, or that Veterans remain homeless because...who cares about the Poor. You can't paint with a broad stroke here. The federal budget is complicated. Frankly I think all of the people who created the Tea-Party wave would be OK with cutting spending by 35 billion this year...as long as they continue the process of finding smart ways to cut the budget next year and the year after. that's not a Tea Party Sentiment...I think most people want their lawmakers to scrutinize government spending. Budget II At the State Level the Governor is trying to give school district a heads up...here's how much money you have...even if the state gets more...your ongoing expenses should be scaled back. Democrats argue we shouldn't plan that far ahead because...what if the situation improves? We MIGHT be able to afford it. That's like a family saying, "hey maybe I'll get a raise next year...lets make reservations for a tip to Mexico." What if the boss comes back and says you didn't get a raise? What if your pay gets cut? You can always spend more next year if the economy improves. What's the harm in waiting? The harm is that Union jobs might be cut in the meantime and Dems don't like that. Dart So I would take the bus if it came by my house at three in the morning. It doesn't. The Des Moines Metro is one of those placers that's in between. We are big enough for some sort of Public Transportation, but not big enough to make it available to most of the population. I tell you, those alternatives are looking a lot more attractive as gas prices go up. So what would make you ride the bus to work? DART is listening. The times of three public meetings (2 today and one tomorrow) are on our website. Southwest Anyone else going to grab hold tight next time the airplane your in starts to make a groaning noise? Air travel is one of the safest ways to get around...and those 737s have been the workhorse of a lot of Airline fleets for a long time. But that's the problem. The NTSB is going to be looking into the idea that shorter flights, the planes going up and down and the skin of the plane contracting and expanding with the air pressure may have some effect on the lifespan of the metal used. So here's something I learned in one of the articles about this incident. I read that if the cabin depressurizes 1t 30,000 ft you have about 25 seconds of useful air to breathe before you pass out. That's why they tell you to put your mask on first. You're no good to your kid if you don't have a mask on yourself. The pilots did an amazing job getting that jet down to an altitude where people could breathe. Some other thoughts: -I could use 200 million dollars...thankfully I have the chance to win it in the Lottery this weekend -The national Championship game wasn't worth staying up for. -Some co-workers told me about http://www.mapmyrun.com/ I love it. One of the things I don't like about running outside is not knowing how far I'm going. This makes it really easy to figure out. I am going to try to run more as the weather warms up. We have a track at the gym but running in circles that long is boring. -I can't say I'm doing back flips over Missouri's new Head Basketball Coach. I know...a lot of you didn't even know we needed a new coach. -Now your Moment of Zen for the Day Why we stop spinning in circles for no reason when we grow up:

I hope you have a good day!

PWD

Blue Screen of Death: Day Three

The Blog will post shortly after Today in Iowa. Blue Screen of Death prevents me from doing...well pretty much anything.

Bill to Nowhere, Shut Up, and Jump the Shark

Good Afternoon. Best intentions of getting this done by the end of the morning show were spoiled by the "Blue Screen of Death". The computer on my side of the desk crapped out. That's also why I'm doing today's Noon News from the Brooke's side of the desk. It looks better over here.

Bill to Nowhere

We started the newscast with talk of a ban on Abortions at 20 weeks in Iowa. I think I've written here before...for an elective end to a pregnancy, this seems like more than enough time to make a choice.

On the other hand I think the lack of exceptions for the life of the Mother is ridiculous. I imagine myself, a father and husband sitting there after 20 weeks and a doctor telling me that I'm going to lose my unborn son or daughter and my wife because the law prevents him from saving her life...a procedure he's trained to do. Someone explain to me how that's VALUING life? Isn't that the point of having the choice? It's not so that everyone can get an abortion...it's so Doctors have every option in front of them. I spent five weeks in the hospital with my wife before our boys were born and more than once, talk of emergency procedures were thrown around. I wasn't just thinking of the health of my boys I was thinking of the health of my wife.

I also renew my objection to passing bills that have no prayer of passing in the Senate. The Budget is waiting...get er done!

Shut Up

Speaking of my boys, I got a parenting first (but not the last time I'm sure) when JT looked at me and told me to "shut up" yesterday. After considering selling him to the Circus, I tried to consider all of the things those parenting magazines tell you about how to deal with situations like this. Unfortunately that didn't happen until I'd already yelled at him. So what's the right answer as a parent. I know I'm supposed to pick him up, sit him on my lap and talk to him about how that makes Daddy sad...and how it's not nice to talk to people that way...but without a difference in my tone of voice and a clear sign I am disappointed in him, how is he supposed to differentiate? I'm looking for responses from Moms and Dads.

Jump the Shark

We had a story about Betty White starting a new reality show on NBC. She's apparently going to "punk" young people with a group of her fellow seasoned citizens. I made the comment that this might be Betty White "jumping the shark". She told Brooke and I she didn't understand the reference. Whop doesn't know Jump the Shark??

Here's the link to the site that talks about when a TV show gets old, tired or just takes a bizarre turn that makes it unwatchable.

The reference is from a late Happy Days episode where Fonzie jumps on water skis over a pool of sharks. He did it with his signature leather jacket on.

What's your favorite Jump the Shark moment?

Finally I have a question for regular readers of this blog. I am going to sit on a panel talking about the impact of this blog on our viewers, our relationship with our audience, how we bring you the news etc. I'd like to hear from you about what you like/don't like about the blog. I don't need you to leave a comment here. Just email me at patrick.dix@whotv.com The event is in about a month

Hope you enjoy the weather!

PWD