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IOWA
DAILY REPORT Holding
the Democrats accountable today, tomorrow...forever.
PAGE 2
Friday,
Aug. 1, 2003
… “Bill
vs. Hillary” – subhead from yesterday’s
“Inside the Beltway” column in the Washington
Times. Item from John McCaslin’s column: “Bill
O'Reilly vs. Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2006? While
media speculation thus far has centered on
whether New York's junior
… “This
sudden agreement between Washington and Havana
could cost George W. Bush a second term.”
– sentence from Robert Novak’s column in
yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times. Headline: “Repatriated
Cubans spell boatload of trouble for Bush”
Excerpts: “It was not just that the Bush
administration dispatched 12 Cubans who
hijacked a boat to the tender mercies of Fidel
Castro. What inflamed pro-Bush Cuban
Americans in south Florida is that the United
States negotiated with the communist dictator
to impose 10-year prison sentences. This
sudden agreement between Washington and Havana
could cost George W. Bush a second term.
President Bush's Cuban-American friends
consider this a de facto trial, resulting in
incarceration by a police state. ‘This is a
very pained community,’ Republican Rep.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart told me. Sharing the pain
of his Cuban constituents and known to be
unhappy with the decision is the president's
brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. ‘I do not
think the president was aware of this
decision,’ said Diaz-Balart. Although
there is truly no sign the decision went to
the Oval Office, its political sting may be
felt there. It is clear that Bush could not
have won Florida and the presidency in 2000
without Cuban votes. Since repatriation of
the hijackers, Florida Democrats have been
busy pointing out betrayal by the White House.
If Cuban voters stay home next time, Florida
will almost surely be won by Bush's Democratic
opponent…If Castro was a fixation for John
F. Kennedy, he seems off the screen for George
W. Bush. While repatriation to Cuban
prisons caused a furor in south Florida, it
hardly made a ripple in Washington. My
check of Bush policy and political advisers
indicated neither awareness nor interest in
what happened. Diaz-Balart refers to the
Cubans as the base of Hispanic support for the
president and the Republican Party. If this is
the treatment given the only minority group
that supports the GOP, he wonders what message
will be sent other minority groups wooed by
Republicans. ‘When the base is ignored,’ the
congressman said, ‘there is a problem.’
More than ignored, the Cubans are simply
disrespected, and that is the painful message
in Miami.”
This morning’s headlines:
Des Moines
Register, top front-page headline: “Four
charged in deaths of immigrants”
Quad-City
Times online, main heads: “Feds test
classifying airline passengers” & State –
“Charges filed in railcar deaths”
Top online
heads, Omaha World-Herald: Midlands – “11
immigrants’ deaths lead to indictments” &
Nation/world – “Vatican takes on gay unions”
Sioux City
Journal, top online stories: “Four are
charged in immigrants deaths in railcar” &
“Senate approves energy bill calling for
greater use of ethanol fuels”
Featured
articles, New York Times: “North Korea Seen
as Ready to Agree to Wider Meetings” & “U.
S. Wants Iraqis to Judge Hussein”
Daily Iowan
(University of Iowa), nation/world heads: “Bremer:
U. S. out of Iraq in ‘04” & “N. Korea
OKs multiparty talks”
Chicago
Tribune, top online headlines: “GDP gains
fuel hopes for rebound” & “Poindexter
to quit over futures plan”
Iowa Briefs/Updates:
WHO Radio (Des
Moines) reported that Grassley has
secured a personal commitment from U. S. AG
Ashcroft to look into the proposed Smithfield
Food acquisition of Farmland Industries.
The report said that Ashcroft, in a phone
conversation, agreed to Grassley’s
request to conduct an antitrust investigation
into the merger
KCCI-TV (Des
Moines) reported that Guv Vilsack
has redirected $423,000 from technology
funding so state can attract $8.5 million from
feds to upgrade the state’s election system.
The move paves the way for election officials
to begin replacing outdated voting machines
The
Quad-City Times reported that retirees of
Sivyer Steel Corporation in Bettendorf,
some whom worked for the company 40 years or
longer, have been notified they no longer
will be eligible for company-paid medical
coverage. In a June 20 letter from Don
Schlueter, who at the time was president and
chief executive officer, retired hourly
employees and eligible spouses were told they
would be losing the coverage and would be
offered the required COBRA coverage at their
expense. The change goes into effect today.
… The
woman – Donna Walker – charged in cruel
Indiana hoax that’s been making national
headline also wanted in Iowa. Excerpts
from report by WHO-TV (Des Moines):
“The
woman authorities say played a cruel hoax on
an Indiana family has ties to the Des Moines
metro.
Mike Sherrill's daughter, Shannon, was
kidnapped 17 years ago. On Saturday, the
Sherrill family received several phone calls
from a woman who said she was Shannon.
But police say that woman, Donna Walker, was
lying. Des Moines metro police knew who
Donna Walker was well before her name began
turning up in national newspapers and on
television this week. In fact, police say
Walker is wanted on a felony charge in
Urbandale. Until last fall, Walker lived
with an acquaintance at an Urbandale
apartment complex. Both Urbandale and
West Des Moines police say they have had
dozens of problems with Walker. On
August 2, 2002, West Des Moines
police took Walker to Broadlawns Hospital
[in Des Moines] after she
called 911 threatening suicide. Police in
Urbandale say they received dozens of
similar calls from Walker. The last time
they heard from her came when a clerk at a
Kum & Go store called police after a woman
was spotted with a gun outside the store.
Walker fled the metro shortly before that
felony warrant was issued.”
… From the
China Front: Headline from yesterday’s
Washington Times – “Pentagon says China
refitting missiles to hit Okinawa” Excerpt
from report in yesterday’s Times by
well-respected military affairs reporter Bill
Gertz: “China is modifying short-range
mobile missiles to target U.S. forces in
Okinawa and is sharply increasing the number
of missiles aimed at Taiwan, according to the
Pentagon's latest annual report on Chinese
military power. ‘Beijing has greatly
expanded its arsenal of increasingly accurate
and lethal ballistic missiles and long-range
strike aircraft that are ready for immediate
application should the [People´s Liberation
Army] be called upon to conduct war before its
modernization aspirations are fully realized,’
according to the report released
yesterday. The Chinese are working on a
medium-range missile that will give Beijing
the ability to launch attacks against the
25,000 U.S. troops deployed on the southern
Japanese island of Okinawa. The new
missiles also will be able to hit Taiwan from
bases farther inland from the Chinese coast,
the report said. Currently, all of China's
short-range CSS-7 and CSS-6 missiles are
deployed in the Nanjing military region,
located across the Taiwan Strait from China. The
new CSS-6s will ‘employ satellite-aided
navigation to enable attacks against both
Okinawa and Taiwan.’ China now has
deployed 450 short-range missiles and the
force will grow by more than 75 missiles a
year, the report said. Last year's report said
China had 350 CSS-6 and CSS-7 missiles within
striking range of Taiwan and that the Chinese
military was adding 50 a year. The missiles
pose ‘a growing and significant challenge ...
to U.S. forces in the western Pacific, as well
as to allies and friends, including Taiwan.’”
… Interesting GOP Senate alliance –
Hutchinson, Lott, Burns and Snowe – offer
alternative proposal to AMTRAK approach
offered up by the Bush administration two days
earlier. Headline from yesterday’s
Washington Post: “4 GOP Senators Challenge
Bush, Seek More for Amtrak” Excerpt from
report by the Post’s Don Phillips:
“Amtrak is again facing a budget showdown this
fall that could place the national passenger
railroad in a severe financial squeeze, even
as the Bush administration and key members
of Congress square off over its long-term
future. While attention is being focused
on a plethora of legislation to restructure
Amtrak over the next six years, the more
immediate crisis grows out of an unusually
tight budget situation on Capitol Hill,
compounded by the fact that the chairmen of
the House and Senate Appropriations
subcommittees on transportation are highly
critical of Amtrak, which has lost money
throughout its 33-year existence. In the end,
the railroad may have to cut back spending
meant to reverse deterioration of the
Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor, and
Amtrak could be left with barely enough money
to limp through the next fiscal year, if that,
say key members of Congress and Amtrak
officials. Yesterday, four Senate
Republicans -- Kay Bailey Hutchison (Tex.),
Trent Lott (Miss.), Conrad Burns (Mont.) and
Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) -- unveiled a plan to
grant Amtrak $12 billion in operating funds
over six years and make available $48 billion
in federally backed bonds to pay for capital
improvements. Their plan came out two days
after the Bush administration, which wants to
give Amtrak $900 million next year, released
details of its previously announced plan to
turn train service over to multi-state
compacts and end operating subsidies while
providing federal grants for capital
improvements. Amtrak has sought $1.8 billion
for next year. All four senators, like many
members of Congress with constituents outside
of the Northeast, made it clear that they will
not support any plan that leads to the
elimination of long-distance trains. ‘I am
extremely disappointed with what the
administration came up with,’ Lott said
yesterday. ‘What they have proposed on
Amtrak is a total non-starter. It will get the
amount of consideration it deserves, which is
nothing.’ But Federal Railroad
Administrator Allan Rutter said the
administration is not willing to increase its
$900 million budget recommendation until some
serious steps are taken toward reform.”
… While NE
and SD counterparts call for out-of-court
efforts to resolve the Great Missouri River
Flow issue, Vilsack – true to form – calls for
federal intervention. Summit set for late
Sept. and Vilsack says he’ll attend if he’s
not in Taiwan. Excerpts from coverage of
tri-state governors session in Sioux City
by the Omaha World-Herald’s Robynn Tysver:
“The governors of Nebraska and South
Dakota agreed Wednesday that the states need
to seek an out-of-court settlement to the
upstream-downstream lawsuits swirling around
the Missouri River. Nebraska Gov. Mike
Johanns and South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds said
that approach would be cheaper for the states
in the river basin and allow the best chance
of a compromise that is acceptable to all.
They agreed to a seven-state river summit
called for Sept. 24 by South Dakota. Iowa Gov.
Tom Vilsack, however, said he thought the
federal government should take the lead
because only the federal government has the
resources and power to carry out any
solution. He sent a letter Wednesday to
congressional leaders asking them to
intervene. The three governors were in
Sioux City to meet about issues facing the
three-state region. It was the ninth such
conference since 1988. The Missouri River
was a hot topic at this conference, held less
than a week after six river lawsuits were
consolidated with a federal district judge in
Minnesota and a contempt order against the
Army Corps of Engineers was put on hold...The
idea behind the seven-state summit is to begin
defining a process by which the states can
seek an out-of-court settlement, Johanns
said. But Vilsack said it will take money
to reach a compromise, which may require the
creation of mitigation acres for wildlife or
new flood-control measures. ‘You're going to
have to, at the end of the day, have
congressional intervention,’ Vilsack said.
Johanns disagreed. He said it was better
for the states to find their own compromise
than have a solution imposed by the courts or
federal government. ‘Not that I don't trust
the people back in Washington, but I like us
to be in control of our own destinies,’
Johanns said…Johanns and Rounds said they
planned to attend the summit. Vilsack said
he would attend unless the summit conflicted
with a planned trade mission to Taiwan.”
Today’s
editorials:
… Today’s
editorials, Des Moines Register:
Local/state – editorial on announcement Wells
Fargo will locate major complex, creating
2,000 jobs, in the Des Moines
area: “Good for Wells Fargo, great for Iowa…Quality
of life and the new state fund put Iowa on the
verge of the biggest-ever job coup.” & “Keep
going on vote reforms…Vilsack found
money to begin. Now lawmakers must do their
part.”
… Iowa State football -- Headline from
yesterday’s Quad-City Times: “Learning to
finish tops ISU wish list” The Times Steve
Batterson reported that the Cyclones are
trying to use last season’s dismal finish as a
“catalyst” in preparing for the upcoming
campaign. Following a 6-1 start, Iowa State
ended 2002 with a 1-6 finish. ISU receiver
Lane Danielson: “When you look at what went
wrong last season, there were four games
where we were leading at halftime and we ended
up losing.” In a survey of Big 12
reporters and broadcasters, Iowa State was
picked to finish fifth in the conference’s
six-team North division.
… DSM 7 a. m. 68, fair/partly cloudy.
Temperatures across Iowa at 7 a.m. were mostly
in the 60s – from 59 in Independence
and Decorah and 60 in Spencer to
70 in Pella and Fort Madison and
72 in Keokuk. Today’s high 81, chance
T-storms. Tonight’s low 62, mostly clear.
Saturday’s high 80, mostly sunny. Saturday
night’s low 60, mostly clear. Sunday’s high
80, mostly sunny. Sunday night’s low 61,
mostly clear.
… LeClaire
Park, from garbage dump to people magnet on
Davenport’s riverfront. From a report in
the Quad-City Times by John Willard: “Come
summer, Davenport’s LeClaire Park
bustles with activity. The 8.85-acre
expanse along the Mississippi River is the
scene of numerous festivals, including
last weekend’s Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz
Festival. The site, with its distinctive
bandshell, was not always a riverfront jewel.
In fact, it was a garbage dump until an
enterprising German immigrant had the vision
to transform the rubble into a recreation
site. With the Bix jazz sounds still fresh
in our heads and more concerts in the offing,
let’s take in some LeClaire Park history. The
park is the brain child of William Dulon
Petersen. W.D., or ‘Billy,’ as he was
affectionately known, was born in Schleswig,
Germany, in 1852 and moved to the United
States with his family when he was 8. In 1872,
he joined his father J.H.C. Petersen and
brothers Henry and Max in establishing J.H.C
Petersen’s Sons department store. The business
evolved into the Von Maur retail chain. Before
moving to California, W.D. Petersen did much
for his community. A vacation trip to his
native Germany, where he saw attractive and
functional riverfronts, prompted him to change
Davenport’s sordid levee.”
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senator will run for president, Mrs.
Clinton still hasn't confirmed yet whether
she'll seek a second term in Congress when she
faces re-election in 2006. That said, bona
fide New York native Bill O'Reilly, host
of the Fox News Channel's ‘The O'Reilly
Factor,’ was interviewed yesterday by his own
network's ‘Fox and Friends’ and revealed
that ‘maybe someday down the road’ he'll
become a candidate for national office. How
high an office the Harvard-educated TV
journalist didn't say, but he reiterated that
he's a ‘registered independent.’ The outspoken
newsman, who now lives on Long Island (not
surprisingly, his official bio says he spent
most of his childhood ‘annoying teachers’),
says he is turned off by the large amount of
fund raising that accompanies a campaign and
these days ‘you need a lot of money.’…’At
this stage,’ he says, his popular TV program
provides an adequate platform for ‘terrorizing
people in government.’”
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