West Burlington IA News-Sports-Opinion

A majority of Americans say the United States is less respected in the world than two years ago and believe President Obama and other Democrats fall short of Republicans on the issue of national security, according to a poll by two left-leaning groups.

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Falcon:

When Obama says he’s going to hurt the banks and insurance companies or any business, what he means is he’s going to raise the publics cost of doing business with them.

No matter what he does to them it just ends up costing those that use their services more money because those firms just pass on the cost to their customers and Obama knows this.

Any mandates, taxes, fines, fees or whatever always ends up costing the general public more money because all enterprises do is pass on the cost to those using their services.

Since Obama has said, “insurance companies will have to insure those with current medical conditions” that insurance company in California tried to raise their rates something like 37 percent. This was because Obamacare forces insurance companies to insure people with current medical conditions something they’ve avoided in the past. In fact Obamacare makes it cheaper for people to not buy insurance until they get sick because the fines are less than the insurance and when they get sick the insurance companies will have to insure them; so they’ll just pay the fine and skip the insurance until they need it.

Obama has been lying about his great healthcare plan and don’t think he hasn’t all along the way. He’s not the person voters thought he was and his agenda is to destroy the American dream as we have known it. Everyone should call their so called representation in Washington and tell them “NO” on Obamacare before he bribes (with our grandchildren’s money) all the democrats to vote for it.

-Scared

The House Economic Growth Committee concluded its final committee meeting of the session by inviting Iowa businesses to testify on Iowa’s business climate. This idea was included in the House Republicans’ job creation plan rolled out last fall. The meeting marked the first time the Economic Growth committee engaged in an in-depth discussion with the private sector on the struggles facing Iowa businesses as they work to jumpstart the economy and create jobs.

The panelists participating in the meeting were Flora Schmidt of the Home Builders Association of Iowa and Mark Hanawalt of United Equipment Accessories, Inc. Schmidt is the Executive Officer for a state wide trade association comprised of 2200 small, independent business owners representing the construction, development, supplier and subcontractor industries. Hanawalt is the President and CEO of a manufacturing and distribution firm specializing in products utilized by the wind energy industry and various other sectors.

Ms. Schmidt focused her comments on regulatory mandates and the costs associated with complying with regulations adopted by state and local governments. She indicated that whenever a new code or regulation is adopted a substantial investment of time and money is spent in complying with it, and the costs are almost always passed onto the consumer. In the homebuilding industry, this means the cost is passed onto the homebuyer and is realized on the price tag of the house.

Ms. Schmidt also highlighted a number of state legislative issues and government hurdles that will increase the cost of doing business on Iowa’s employers and further exacerbate Iowa’s cloudy business climate including too many regulations versus voluntary compliance programs.

Mr. Hanawalt told a story of how his business started and walked legislators through the expansion process. He also spoke to the issues he believes will enable him to expand further and create additional jobs. A member of the committee asked him about the one thing Iowa can do, or not do, to help his business. His answer? “To put it bluntly, get out of my way. I am going to grow with or without you.”

Mr. Hanawalt spoke about the need to “leave money in the people’s pockets” or in other words, keep taxes low. He suggested that if Iowa truly wants to keep existing businesses here and attract new industries, the state must reorganize its tax code in an effort to reduce taxes across the board. He also emphasized on the importance of predictability in the tax code. Specifically, he said that implementing a long-term business plan is difficult when the state makes a decision to give businesses bonus depreciation in one year and then takes it away in the next.

Other controversial legislative proposals pending in the Iowa House, including labor bills, were discussed. Hanawalt said that every time the state discusses changing Iowa’s Right to Work status or implementing prevailing wage laws, economic development directors in Nebraska and South Dakota contact him asking if he is willing to pick up and move his operations to their state. A stark reality legislators must take into consideration when deciding whether or not to support such proposals.

The message of the meeting is consistent with what I’ve been saying….in order to turn the economy around and put Iowans back to work, the legislature must focus their efforts on policies that foster a positive economic climate. House Democrats must move away from talking about bills that deter business activity such as the bill to repeal Iowa’s right to work law. They must also stop balancing budgets on the backs of Iowa taxpayers.

-Kraig Paulsen, Iowa House Republican Leader

Falcon:

Out of the worst 20 cities for wage growth Iowa has three which are Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Dubuque and Cedar Rapids. Of course little towns like Burlington are too small to get a rating but I’m sure Burlington would be bringing up the bottom on a list of towns under 26,000 people.

Data was found on MSN web site this morning (3/7).

-Concerned

Slowest wage growth:
1. Florence-Muscle Shoals, Ala.
Wage growth: 0.1%

2. Ocala, Fla.
Wage growth: 0.9%

3. Alexandria, La.
Wage growth: 0.9%

4. Kalamazoo-Portage, Mich.
Wage growth: 0.9%

5. Saginaw-Saginaw Township North, Mich.
Wage growth: 1.0%

6. Springfield, Ill.
Wage growth: 1.1%

7. Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
Wage growth: 1.1%

8. Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, Mass.
Wage growth: 1.2%

9. Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa
Wage growth: 1.2%

10. Decatur, Ala.
Wage growth: 1.4%

11. Dubuque, Iowa
Wage growth: 1.4%

12. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Wage growth: 1.4%

13. Amarillo, Texas
Wage growth: 1.5%

14. Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va.-Ohio
Wage growth: 1.6%

15. Greenville, N.C.
Wage growth: 1.7%

16. Gainesville, Fla.
Wage growth: 1.7%

17. Victoria, Texas
Wage growth: 1.8%

18. Sheboygan, Wis.
Wage growth: 1.8%

19. Tyler, Texas
Wage growth: 1.8%

20. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.
Wage growth: 1.8%

Source: MSN.com

President Obama's policies would add more than $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, congressional budget analysts said Friday.

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Fox News to the Hill…
The Public Safety Committee passed SF 2197 this week that dealt with a problem that happened in Southwest Iowa. Representative Rich Anderson, Clarinda(R) filed a bill to correct the problem in 2009, however the bill never saw the light of day until Bill O’Reilly aired the problem on his show the O’Reilly Factor that airs on Fox News. Miraculously the majority party was more than willing to debate the bill with the threat of being a called a “Pin Head” by O’Reilly. Do to the adult content of the subject, if you want more information on SF 2197 let me know.

Who should have the authority…
The session started with many bills dealing with flood plain regulation, planning and state wide control. Many of the bills have died due to many problems. One of those that survived was Senate File 2265, which is a Rebuild Iowa (RIO) bill creating a permanent 31 member comprehensive planning task force. The bill also codifies “SMART” comprehensive planning principles for state, regional, county and city planning.

Concerns about this Rebuild Iowa bill are mounting. Is now the time to create a 31 member permanent task force? Also the language in the bill creates an obligation for local governments to consider SMART planning principles that happen to include a good deal of code words tossed around by environmentalists. The local governments may choose not to follow the principles in the Code but they must consider them.

The need for the legislation is being called into question given planning is already underway in many communities and through the existing regional Council on Government’s. Also, the permanent task force has the potential to grow into a regulatory commission to regulate their personal agenda’s into flood management. This needs to be the responsibility of elected officials who would be more accountable to the people.

Regulations Flooding…
One of the bills that kept surfacing in the Rebuild Iowa Committee was HSB 573/SF 2316. This bill started out to be extremely detrimental to areas including Muscatine, Louisa, and Des Moines Counties. We were able to stop the house study bill and it never came out of sub-committee. However, the Senate file just kept ticking along and found its way to the House Rebuild Iowa Committee. I was one of the subcommittee members instrumental in stopping the bill in its tracks and the bill never made it out of the subcommittee. The state needs to be more proactive in flood plain policy; however, the policies the state enacts should be based on fact, good judgment and have flexibility for different areas to be treated differently. The policy should not be based on emotion, with a knee jerk reaction and a state wide blanket approach. I raised concerns; regulating the .2% flood plain (500 year), when we do not have accurate maps to show its boundaries. This would be getting the cart before the horse. It does not make sense or use of good judgment. Policy should be based on fact and good science.

IRS Refunds…
Yesterday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced they are sitting on more than $1.3 billion in unclaimed 2006 federal income tax refunds. Approximately 1.4 million people that did not file a 2006 federal income tax return, qualify for checks. However, taxpayers have until April 15, 2010 to postmark their ‘06 return or Uncle Sam gets to keep their money. The IRS estimates that 12,200 Iowans who did not file a 2006 return are missing out on $10,000. The average estimated refund amounts to $596 per taxpayer.

Individuals seeking to file their 2006 return can obtain a prior year tax form by visiting the Forms and Publicans page on www.irs.gov or by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676).

“The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that the government spends too much.” – Ronald Reagan

-Tom Sands

3/3/10 - 8:58 a.m. at Hwy. 61 & Sperry Rd.
David Wendell Gilbertson, 28, West Burlington; driving while revoked.

The Supreme Court suggested Tuesday it will strike down U.S. cities' outright bans on handguns, a ruling that could establish a nationwide ownership right.

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Falcon:

One thing for sure if you don’t mind standing in line waiting for service I guess one wouldn’t mind going to the Burlington Post Office.

Burlington has too many people that should retire from the Post Office and give some younger people the chance to have the easy money life, although they’d be working for a failed firm. The USPS has failed to maintain operations without a massive transfusion of cash every year to make up for the high wages and overabundant benefits awarded to government workers.

I imagine the USPS is extremely top heavy with overpaid bureaucrats with nothing to do but spy on the hourly employees. Every week I get at least 85% junk mail and it’s because the junk mail dealers get far cheaper delivery rates than does the average home owner. If they would eliminate the junk mail the entire system would fail overnight.

Of course all their advertising has proved useless in generating more business and the shipping box ad is starting to drive me mad I’m just sick of it.

Let’s see, we have the schools that are failing, the local government is failing, the congress is a failure, Amtrak is a failure, state government in Iowa is a failure, the county is a failure and what do all these entities have in common?

Your right, the government and their unions have failed us all and none of them have shown any fiscal responsibility or accountability.

The entire group just raises taxes to make up for their ignorance and misdeeds. They have no concept of responsibility or accountability, that’s why taxes are astronomical in Iowa. The government answer for their arrogance and ignorance is raise taxes and to hell with the taxpayer.

We have losers in Des Moines County that think raising taxes is the answer for their incompetence and the dumb voters will continue to reelect them year after year as they’ve been known to do, Heland is a good example of this voter dumbness.

-Disappointed

Falcon,

A good video about healthcare.

Know the Truth about Health Care

-Worried

Proposal to seize land would favor animals over Americans.

You'd think the Obama administration is busy enough controlling the banks, insurance companies and automakers, but thanks to whistleblowers at the Department of the Interior, we now learn they're planning to increase their control over energy-rich land in the West.

A secret administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico, halting job- creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining and energy development. Worse, this land grab would dry up tax revenue that's essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers.

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2/27/10 - 1:28 a.m. at 550 S. Gear Ave., West Burlington.
Adam Gene Phillips, 21, 2107 W. 1st St. Apt.8, Ankeny; operating while intoxicated - first offense.

Falcon:

The West Burlington Post Office is many times better than the Burlington Post Office. I quit going to the Burlington post office years ago because the West Burlington Post Office gives much better and faster service.

Burlington is just trying to dumb down the West Burlington Post Office to try and equal them out.

-Worried