Sunday, March 23, 2003

GENERAL:

War continues. Baghdad weather today – High 77, low 50, very loud and smoky…Overnight: At least one dead, investigation continues into incident involving a U. S. Army sergeant who apparently tossed grenades into command post for 101^st Airborne at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait. TV screens around world, including Arab and European nations, tuned to live, lengthy U. S. Marine firefight and tank operation near port of Umm Qasr – wee hours (around 1 a.m., Iowa time) viewing for state’s insomniacs. CNN analyst, general and sometimes prospective Dem wannabe Wesley Clark says operation was “delicate, difficult and unpredictable” – adding “this is a slow, methodical reduction of this enemy position.” On site, Brit correspondent David Bowden said tanks will take building where apparent Iraqi resistance located “down brick-by-brick if necessary.” Best shot: Marine with camcorder getting video, probably for home movies

… Hundreds of Iowans showed yesterday on west steps of Iowa Statehouse for pro-America rally to support troops, but 15 arrested – out of about 50 anti-war protestors -- outside gates of Iowa National Guard HQ at Camp Dodge, northwest of DSM. Among those arrested: Veteran activist Father Frank Cordaro, who had promised DSM Catholic bishop Charron he would “not go back to jail for the next two years.”

…Bad news for Iraq operations – sandstorm expected Tuesday…Morning political quiz: On which proposed Senate amendment to the 2004 budget resolution last week did Grassley, Harkin and Hillary all vote the same while all – emphasis on “all” – Dem senator-wannabes voted on the opposing side of the issue? (Answer below.)

…The unrelenting anti-tax cut sentiments of the four announced Dem senator-candidates – and their undeniable loyalties to continued Big Spending – were irrefutable as they voted last week on the 2004 Senate budget resolution, which included efforts to slice the tax reductions in half. (See below.)

…It’s a dismal day for the state’s wrestling fans – and a blow to Iowa Pride -- as Iowa Hawkeyes return home without their customary NCAA championship. Iowa, winner of 20 NCAA wrestling crowns since 1975, hasn’t won another since 2000. Good news for Northern Iowa fans – the Panthers finished higher than Iowa State, another traditional wrestling fortress, in the national wrestling team standings. Frustration reflected in Matt Coss’ coverage from Kansas City in yesterday’s Mason City Globe Gazette: “It’s been a week the Iowa and Iowa State wrestling programs can’t forget soon enough. The two national powers are snapping school streaks Hawkeye and Cyclone enthusiasts thought they never would see. For the second time since 1974, Iowa has just one representative in 10 title matches, while Iowa State didn’t have a semifinalist for the first time in 41 seasons.”

…CNN analysis of latest polling numbers indicates a “red state-blue state split” is emerging in support-opposition on Iraq war, reflecting the Bush-Gore breakdown in the 2000 presidential election.

CANDIDATES/CAUCUSES: Dean scheduled for at least two days in central Iowa, starting today. Kucinich speaks this morning, Gephardt this p.m. at UAW conference in DSM …The U. S. senators seeking Dem nomination further reinforced their anti-taxpayer credentials Friday by supporting efforts to reduce the proposed tax cut from $726 million to $350 million. The amendment (to the 2004 budget resolution) was defeated on a 62-38 margin with the four announced Dems – Edwards, Graham, Kerry, Lieberman – supporting it. Prospective Dem candidate Biden also voted for it, but Grassley, Harkin and Hillary joined 59 other senators to defeat the effort. During debate on the amendment, Grassley – chairman of Senate Finance Committee – urged members to defeat it, “There is a war going on. When these men and women come home from the battlefield, we want a growing economy so these folks will have jobs.”…The majority of the Senate, however, supported an amendment by WI Sen. Feingold to trim GWB’s proposed $726 billion tax cut – by $100 billion, to $626 billion. The amendment, which earmarked the $100 billion to create a reserve fund for “military action and reconstruction in Iraq, was adopted on a near-party line 52-47 vote. All four announced Dems – Edwards, Graham, Kerry, Lieberman – along with Hillary and Biden voted with the majority to reduce the proposed tax cut and create the Iraq reserve fund. Grassley and Harkin split along party lines on the amendment.

IOWA POLITICS: Des Moines Sunday Register interviews Iowa leaders from 2000 Bush campaign effort  -- headline: “Backers in Iowa hail Bush’s leadership” Quotes DSM lawyer and Bush state co-chairman Stan Thompson as saying, “I think the president has shown leadership.” …Dem Boswell says he has a different perspective on Iraq war than most of his congressional colleagues. Boswell, a chopper pilot who flew rescue missions in Vietnam, said he knows U. S. troops have “a lot of anxiety” about current military operations, but that they are well trained with good leaders. He says he thinks “about what its like to be standing in the shoes of the men and women over there.”

MORNING SUMMARY:  Morning headlines – Des Moines Sunday Register top front page headline, “U. S. targets Iraqi will…Goal: Use attacks to prompt surrender” Other Register front page headlines: “Sacrifice at time of war – Chance of draft being reinstated weighs on minds of young Iowans; Iowa veterans: Wartime hardship for civilians not what it used to be” …Omaha World-Herald online top headline, “Troops within 150 miles of Baghdad” Iowa  City Press-Citizen: “U. S. Missile May Have Downed RAF Plane”…Sioux City Journal online top story: “Allies roll toward Baghdad” … QCTimes.com (Quad-City Times): “Halfway to Baghdad, resistance escalates” QCTimes.com adds two clocks to website – shows “local” and “Baghdad” times, nine hours difference…Chicago Tribune online headlines: “Attack at U. S. Camp in Kuwait Kills One” & “Downtown Chicago gets no-fly zone”…FBI whistleblower – and New Hampton native – Coleen Rowley has been, at her request, reassigned to a new job in the Bureau. Rowley, who has been chief division counsel for the FBI in Minneapolis for the past 12 years, moves to a field position with more investigative responsibilities. She attracted national attention last year by sending a letter criticizing the FBI’s intelligence failures prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks…BBC News reports Northwest Airlines – the world’s fourth largest air carrier – cutting 4,900 jobs and will reduce flight schedule 12%. Northwest blames decision on a drop in passenger demand due to Iraq hostilities.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: From Graham: “Many voters feel it’s very important that George W. Bush not serve a second term. So the electability of the Democratic candidate is an important factor…Florida is not a competitive state. It is the competitive state.”  (Iowa Pres Watch Note: Someone should remind him that he has to go through IA and NH, and get nomination before engaging in Florida dreaming. This is, in fact, the same Graham who received 1% support in the latest – 3/16-3/19 -- American Research Group poll of likely Dem primary voters in New Hampshire.)

WAR/TERRORISM: Nearly 1,000 Iowa Air National Guard members in Sioux City area will not be called up during the current Iraq military build-up. The 185^th Fighter Wing – which has been called up several times for previous assignments – will sit this one out because the unit is “in transition,” according to Guard officials. The wing is in training – from an F-16 fighter operation to a KC-135 air tanker refueling unit – so the 975 members will not be activated in the near future. The fighter jets are gone and the tankers aren’t expected in Sioux City for a couple months…From VOA (Voice of America) News: “A United Nations envoy says North Korea is watching the U. S.-led attack on Iraq with unease, and is concerned about Washington’s intentions toward Pyongyang. His comments come as North Korea postpones talks with the South, because of what it says is Seoul’s heightened military alert. Maurice Strong, an aide to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, says North Korean leaders believe they may be Washington’s next target, after the U. S.-led military strikes on Iraq.”… VOANews headline: “Australia Warns of Possible Terrorist Plot in Indonesia” Australian govt says it has information terrorists may be planning to attack westerners in Indonesia’s second largest city, Surabaya…One more VOANews headline: “US Forces in Afghanistan Target Taleban, al-Qaida”…BBC reported three members of an ITV News crew were missing after they came under fire on their way to the southern Iraqi city of Basra…Radio Iowa’s Stella Shaffer reports the state’s only nuclear power plant – the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo in eastern Iowa – is on high security alert. Center spokesman John Lohman says, however, there is no need to change security measures as the nation’s alert status goes up and down. Shaffer’s report said although the center’s security officials “take threat-level changes seriously,” the energy facility has been on a heightened security status since the 9/11 terrorist attacks…A Grinnell College political science professor – Wayne Moyer – says a drawback of wall-to-wall TV reports on the Iraq war is that coverage only focuses on one area of the world while other regions, such as North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, also are important. According to a report by Matt LaCasse of KGRN (Grinnell), Moyer said one of the positives of Iraq coverage is that it increases awareness of the Middle East situation. Moyer added he’s not sure how much new information TV viewers are getting since there’s usually not enough new information coming in to support minute-to-minute coverage.

FEDERAL ISSUES: From Jane Norman of Washington Bureau in today’s Des Moines Sunday Register: Headline, “Ames labs denied more U. S. aid” Reports. “The Bush administration isn’t recommending more money for a major renovation of the national animal disease complex in Ames in its budget for next year.” Also a related Norman story on federal funding for Iowa, “Money funnel to Iowa from D. C. gets tighter”… Rural activists from five states – IA, MN, MO, IL, IN – were scheduled to be in Ames yesterday to develop strategies, conduct workshops opposing expansion of large-scale factory farms and packer ownership of livestock. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) spokesman said their goal was to stop “the corporate takeover of agriculture.”

STATE ISSUES: Resolution of a dispute between the state and Iowa’s three racetrack casinos may be at hand in the immediate future. Radio Iowa reports Senate GOP Leader Stewart Iverson, Dows, said he believes Vilsack and lawmakers will be able to work out a deal with the casinos – and it could happen as soon as tomorrow. The conflict occurred when the state Supreme Court ruled racetrack casinos could not be taxed at higher rate than Iowa riverboat casinos. The state has appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court, but Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson quotes Iverson as saying state officials are seeking a resolution because there’s a “danger the state could lose and there’d be a $35 million hole in the state budget plan” until a settlement is achieved… From yesterday’s Sioux City Journal, Business Editor Dave Dreeszen reports: “Gov. Tom Vilsack traveled to Sioux Center Friday to tour a leading biotechnology firm. And it wasn’t Trans Ova Genetics, the focus of a $33 million incentive package moving its way through the state Legislature. Vilsack got a first-hand look at Sioux Biochemical, which, like Sioux Center-based Trans Ova, is developing human antibodies from agricultural products…Vilsack described Sioux Biochemical and Trans Ova, which grows proteins from genetically modified cows, as shining examples of the types of companies he wants to promote in the state’s emerging life sciences industry.” Sioux Biochemical, which isolates proteins from plants and animal tissues, is developing a series of transgenic proteins that offer hope for fighting diseases and disorders. During his northwest Iowa economic development tour, Vilsack also visited Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon and American Natural Soy in Cherokee.

OPINION:  Today’s Des Moines Sunday Register editorial: “Finish Iraq, then rethink the course” Excerpt: The Bush doctrine “asserts the right to attack anyone with the mere capability of harming the United States. Hence the war in Iraq to overthrow a regime that did not pose a threat to the United States but someday might have. After Iraq, the next logical target will be North Korea. Then there are Syria, Libya, Sudan, Iran… Let us finish the job in Iraq, then consider whether it will be the first of many similar wars to come or the last war of empire.”…From Register’s “Roses & Thistles” column: “A thistle to members of the U. S. Senate who exploited current Middle East instabilities to push for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration.”  …From NewsMax.com: “No wonder Beijing obstructed the United States on Iraq. We now know that the Iraqis used China’s missiles against allied troops. Yes, that was a Chinese-made Seersucker cruise missile that came within 600 yards Wednesday night of wiping out Camp Commando, headquarters of Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Force in Kuwait, the New York Times reported. Don’t faint if there are new revelations of Iraq’s military goods made by “peaceniks” France, Germany and Russia.”…Letter to editor from Sioux City Journal online: “To all anti-war protestors: You’ve Lost! The war has started and will continue until the mission is through. Now, more than ever, we need to pull together as a country. Put your picket signs down and help to support our servicemen and our country.” – Jennifer Streufert, Peterson.

SPORTS:  Iowa women’s basketball team plays second game in Women’s NIT vs. Marquette this afternoon (2 p.m.) in Iowa City…Boys high school basketball champions from last night – Class 4-A: Waterloo East (72-52 blows away North Scott – Eldridge).                     Class 3-A: Pella (repeats as state champion 66-52 over Harlan). Third place winners – Class 4-A: Des Moines Hoover (68-47 over Marshalltown). Class 3-A: Davenport Assumption (59-51 over Mount Vernon)…Boys state tournament highlight: In winning the 4-A championship, Waterloo East coach Steve McGraw recorded his 500^th win…Final team standings from NCAA wrestling championships in Kansas City: 1. Oklahoma St., 2. Minnesota, 3. Oklahoma… Iowa teams:  8. Iowa, 11. Northern  Iowa, 19. (tie) Iowa State with Pitt. Iowa heavyweight Steve Mocco won individual national championship, but UNI 141-pound finalist Dylan Long lost in his title bid.

WEATHER: DSM 5 a.m. 36, fair…Temps range from around 30 to mid-40s – from 27 in Iowa City to 45 in LeMars…High today 75, mostly sunny. Low tonight 48, partly cloudy. High Monday 65, partly sunny, chance of rain Monday night... From WHO-TV meteorologist Brandon Thomas: “Chance of showers and t-storms on Monday, with highs in the upper fifties to low sixties. Rain likely on Tuesday, with highs in the mid forties. Partly sunny on Wednesday, with highs in the upper forties to low fifties. A good chance of rain on Thursday, with highs in the mid-upper forties.”

IOWAISMS: Radio Iowa reports a Sioux Center man – Keith Boone, 41 – has been charged with taking more than $90,000 from the local Central Reformed Church. The Sioux County attorney’s office said Boone allegedly took the funds between December 1999 and last August when he served as church treasurer.

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