Essential Estrogen

There are somethings in life that are just inevitable: Taxes. Broken Hearts. Death. Poop. Breathing. And especially Joe Jobs.

The anatomy of a "Joe Job:" A group or individual registers an internet domain. The domain is set up and is a legitimate site -- store front, information, blog, photo gallery or whatever. The point is that the site is going about its business without purposefully stepping on anyone else's toes. Everything is going along fine until one day thousands of "your email was undeliverable" messages and "out of office auto-responder" messages begin arriving. Congratulations, you've just been the victim of a Joe Job.

Those folks -- the ones named after the canned precooked meat -- aren't the most honest. And, in order to complete their task -- which typically involve sending thousands upon thousands of junk email -- they don't mind breaking a few rules. The rule they break that gets under my skin more than any other is when they take a legitimate domain, such as EssentialEstrogen.com, and use it for their own purpose.

When an unsuspecting email user or spam filter encounters the message, they get angry at the person sending the email. The canned meat folks know this, so they elect to hide behind someone else's good name.

This is what happened last night. When we returned home from an evening dinner at Applebee's (the Fiesta Lime Chicken there is amazing) my email client was hard at work. Over 4,000 undeliverable or refused emails had already bounced back at me -- emails that weren't sent by me and did not process through our server. (From the header information, it appears they originated in Italy, but I wouldn't bet my life, or even 10 bucks, on it.) I made a few changes on the email server so it would refuse any mail to accounts that did not exist. And, yes, it's something I should have done a long time ago. I was simply lazy.

When everything was said and done, I received 8,732 undeliverable or otherwise refused email messages. Adding insult to injury they were of the "enlarge your sexual organ" variety. So, if any of the recipients find their way here to complain -- and a few have already begun to email their frustration -- please know that no one associated with our domain is responsible. We hate it as much as you do.

Obsession by Animotion:

If you haven't already read this post by Caroline Vernon of Progressive Action for the Common Good, head over to Blog for Iowa and do so now.

The post is concerning PACG's email list and the fact that several subscribers are dropping -- without having requested to be dropped. This is primarily affecting users with Mediacom and Yahoo!, and the PACG staff contacted both ISPs. The problem was traced back to AT&T, the company that provides the backbone for the Mediacom network. Caroline learned that email from their site had been "blacklisted" -- that is, flagged for abuses (such as the activity named for the precooked, canned meat) so that many servers would no longer accept their email. Caroline contacted AT&T and received a primarily form letter in response, which is posted at the first link above.

Caroline has been in contact with other progressive groups who are experiencing similar issues and seems to believe that AT&T (and perhaps other large telecoms involved in the warrantless wiretapping fiasco) are purposefully blocking progressive lists that were organizing against retroactive immunity.

I have to admit that after reading Caroline's post, I wasn't overly concerned. My first thought was to the recent "Joe Job" perpetrated against our own domain. While most blacklists recognize such attacks for what they are and don't punish the server for the spoofing, it doesn't always end so nicely. So, my first thought was that nefarious precooked, canned meat folks were spoofing the PACG's email server and that AT&T -- and perhaps others -- had mistaken that for legitimate abusive practices. Caroline says, however, that she has contact info for other progressive groups that have been suffering the same fate.

In 2000 or 2001, AT&T was in trouble for offering "pink contracts" to companies that were known to be sending unsolicited commercial email. The pendulum swung the other direction in the two years that followed, with the AT&T blacklist -- either blacklist.sequoia.ops.asp.att.net or blacklist.mail.ops.worldnet.att.net -- becoming extremely strict and blocking a great deal of legitimate mail. There were several users from iowatelecom.net that were on the blacklist and couldn't send mail to me (my provider used the AT&T backbone).

There also seems to be another problem happening in conjunction with what's being reported by Caroline -- Yahoo! mail users, even those paying for premium services, have been unknowingly been separated from their mail. That is, the Yahoo! addresses were rejecting mail and, as a result, have been unsubscribed from many email lists. Some are pointing to the recent refusal by Yahoo! to be bought out by Microsoft, but my personal thinking is that it has more to do with CAPTCHA being cracked.

Here's a headline for you: "Vander Plaats Charges Culver with Sexual Misconduct." No, I'm not making that up. That's the actual headline that Bob Vander Plaats, 2006 GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, placed on a press release to discuss the fact that Gov. Chet Culver has refused Title V abstinence-only federal funding. If you don't believe me, you can also read about this on Price of Politics and Iowa Insider.

You'd think Vander Plaats, a former high school principal, would have caught such a mistake before hitting the send button.

We were thrilled to know that we were selected as one of the "E for Excellence!" blogs by Around Des Moines and fully intend to pass on our 10 selections as well -- just as soon as we can make the decision. In any event, as soon as we do, the information will be given its own post on the blog. Thanks again!

According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, Barr Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $5.9 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged it accepted $20 million from Warner Chilcott for agreeing not to sell a generic version of the oral contraceptive Ovcon for five years. In 2005 alone, Warner Chilcott reported $90.2 million in sales of Ovcon.

A user -- geocajun -- on the One Bread, One Body Christian-based forums, turns back the clock to review what Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, had to say about Sen. John McCain in the year 2000 (that includes a shout out about Iowa's own Sen. Tom Harkin):

"How John McCain Threatens the Pro-Life Cause"

"It is noteworthy that during McCain's 17 years in Congress, he never had an opportunity to vote on Roe v. Wade until October 21, 1999, when the Senate voted on a resolution-style amendment by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to endorse Roe v. Wade. McCain skipped the vote to make an extra campaign appearance in New Hampshire, as documented in a local newspaper. The amendment passed narrowly."

...

""On January 15, McCain said that if elected president, he might appoint former Senator Warren Rudman (R-NH) — his close advisor and the co- chairman of the national McCain campaign — as U.S. attorney general. As a senator, Rudman voted to preserve Roe v. Wade, and was an active opponent of other pro-life efforts legislative efforts. ... Rudman voted to confirm anti-Roe v. Wade Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, but later wrote in his 1996 memoirs, "If my vote had been the deciding one, I would have voted against Thomas, no matter what the consequences."

[Commentary] I know there must be a place -- somewhere either between or beyond the salvos of political rhetoric of Des Moines -- for Iowans to have a real conversation about civil rights in our state. Unfortunately, when the rhetoric is so loud and so obscene, everyday Iowans tend to switch to a different channel and tune out important issues.

Monday, for example, House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, a Sioux City Republican, decided he would implement a rarely used legislative rule to move a proposal on the Iowa Marriage Amendment out of committee. Rants was prompted to make this move due to the fact that the Iowa Legislature is entering it's first "funnel week" -- a time when bills not moved out of committee die on the vine. Despite the rule being implemented Tuesday morning, the proposal remained in committee.

During the course of announcing that the rule would be used to force the proposal to the floor, Rants told my Iowa Independent colleague Jay Wagner, "So the question is whether [Democrats] vote their conscience or blindly follow the leadership." It isn't the first time Rants and other Iowa Republicans have accused Democratic members of the House and Senate of bowing to the whim of "leadership" without actually naming who or what such leadership is. It's also doubtful it will be the last.

In his public remarks, however, one thing Rants failed to mention was the pushing he's receiving from his own "leadership" to get the proposal out of committee for a vote. On Feb. 25, Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center was a guest on WHO Radio's "Deace in the Afternoon" program. This particular program (mp3) was dedicated to advocacy of the Iowa Marriage Amendment. The program began with Hurley, a politically-charged conservative personality in the state, exhorting listeners to push the legislature to move this particular measure out of committee prior to the March 6 deadline.

Steve Deace, the host of the radio program, is also one of several conservative individuals and organizations who have joined together to push for the Iowa Marriage Amendment to come out of committee. Others include the Concerned Women for America of Iowa, Iowa Eagle Forum, Iowa Christian Alliance and Hurley's organization.

As a part of the pressure this coalition has initiated, a search of campaign-finance documents for donations to Democratic officials from openly gay individuals was completed. In the ensuing press release, these donors, who have the legal right of making contributions to any political campaign they desire, were given the distinctive, emotion-provoking title of "homosexual activists." At least one member of a sponsoring organization stated to me that she felt political contributions by gay people should be limited, based on the fact that since "they typically do not have family concerns," they have more disposable income and can, therefore, provide more monetary incentives to politicians. I guess, using the same logic, the government should also limit campaign contributions by sterile heterosexual people.

It is difficult to imagine the outcry if anyone dared to scour campaign-finance forms for names of regular Iowa churchgoers and labeled them as "fundamentalist activists" or for business owners and labeled them as "corporate money-mongers." Yet, this same tactic has been used by those who prefer to stand behind "what if" arguments to block certain Americans from their inalienable rights as granted by our founding fathers.

If the Iowa Marriage Amendment were to come out of committee, it would proceed to a vote in the Legislature. If passed, it would then face another legislative debate in the next session before it could be placed on a general election ballot. The conservative groups advocate this must be done -- that everyday Iowans should not be subject to the yet undetermined verdict of the Iowa Supreme Court on the matter of same-sex marriage. Repeat after me: "straw man."

Much to the dismay of many Iowans who support same-sex marriage, Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat who believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman, has already publicly announced that if the Supreme Court should uphold an August 2007 District Court ruling that Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, he will not only act but would consider a special legislative session for the specific purpose of "dealing with" the Iowa Supreme Court's verdict. While it is true that the Governor has no direct control of how state legislators would eventually vote during a special session, it is safe to say that his opinion would carry weight with Iowa's Democratic majority.

Conservative groups contend, perhaps rightly, that the vast majority of Iowa residents support the discrimination against homosexual couples. I would argue, as I have in the past, that quantity does not necessarily equate to quality.

Forty years ago the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in relation to marriage "that connections and alliance so unnatural that God and nature seem to forbid them, should be prohibited by positive law, and be subject to no evasion." In a similar decision, the Georgia courts said that some marriages were "not only unnatural, but... always productive of deplorable results." The Georgia courts added that such marriages "are productive of evil, and evil only, without any corresponding good."

At that time, however, the courts were not discussing same-sex marriage, but interracial ones. At that time, when the United States Supreme Court eventually ruled in Loving v. Virginia that marriage was one of an individual's "vital personal rights" protected under the 14th Amendment, most Americans believed such unions to be unnatural ones that would lead to the complete dismantlement of both marriage and society.

While same-sex marriage is one of those topics that tends to provoke strong emotions, it is in the best interests of our state to step back and allow the state Supreme Court to make its ruling. If there must be a legislative circus that will distract from everyday -- but nonetheless important -- issues before our Legislature, let it come after the courts have had their say. Until that time, I encourage all Iowans to wave away any rhetoric from either side of the political aisle concerning the issue. More likely than not, the rhetoric has more to do with the next election than it does to the sanctity of marriage.

Women undergraduate students interested in attending a free five-day residential institute focused on public policy and leadership education have only two more days to submit their applications.

Iowa N.E.W. Leadership is a program sponsored by the Women's Resource and Action Center at the University of Iowa. Sponsorships have been collected to cover the cost of food, housing and program materials. Women accepted to the program will need to arrange their own transportation to and from Iowa City.

The program, which will run from June 1 to 6 on the University of Iowa campus, features Lt. Gov. Patty Judge as keynote speaker. Former Iowa Sen. Maggie Tinsman and Dale McCormick, director of the Maine State Housing Authority, will be faculty-in-residence. The program is designed to encourage college women to take on public leadership roles by providing the positive role models of successful women leaders.

Originally developed in 1991 by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, the program has been conducted at 17 universities throughout the nation. The Iowa program is open to any female two- or four-year college or university student. This includes Iowa residents who are currently attending school as undergraduates in other states. Women who apply do not have to be currently involved in a political science major or formal political roles.

Students and practitioners from across the state will be brought together to discuss national and local policy issues and to learn about the roles women have historically played in the development of public policy.

Interested women should submit an application before the end of business on Friday. The institute will accept 30 women and all accepted applicants will be notified by April 4. Organizers are hopeful that participants will represent diverse identities, academic majors and political affiliations. Participants, according to program coordinator Jessica Hook, are selected through a competitive application process.

The Women's Resource and Action Center is a department within the Division of Student Services at the University of Iowa that is dedicated to fostering women's individual empowerment. The Center, officially organized in 1974, leads and collaborates on projects that serve students, staff, faculty and the greater Iowa City community.

The State Judicial Nominating Commission has selected three eastern Iowa nominees to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Iowa Supreme Court. The names have already been sent to Gov. Chet Culver for his appointment.

The nominees are:

• Connie Alt, 47, of Cedar Rapids. She is currently a senior vice president at Shuttleworth & Ingersoll P.L.C., her work focused on litigation, primarily in medical malpractice defense. She received her Juris Doctorate in 1985 from the University of Iowa.
• David Baker, 55, of Cedar Rapids, was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2006. He attended the University of Iowa where he received both his undergraduate and law degree (1979). He served in private practice for 25 years before his appointment as a district court judge in the Sixth Judicial District in 2005.
• Thomas Waterman, 48, of Pleasant Valley. He is currently an attorney with the Davenport law firm Lane & Waterman L.L.P. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1984. In 2006, "America's Leading Business Lawyers" ranked Waterman as one of the best lawyers in America for his work in commercial litigation.

The vacancy will occur when Justice Jerry L. Larsen retires on May 17, due to the mandatory retirement age. Larson, who joined the court in 1978, is the longest serving justice in Iowa history.

Culver has 30 days to make an appointment to the court from this slate of nominees.

Just one week from today, each of Iowa's 99 counties will host their Democratic county conventions. It's a development that has sparked the previously successful grassroots organization of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama back into action.

In an email to supporters on Friday, the Obama campaign provided detailed information based on county of residence as well as a link to a page with additional information on each county.

If you were selected as a delegate or alternate at the Iowa Caucus, Barack needs your help in the next stage of the process.

County conventions will be held across Iowa on Saturday, March 15th, and the number of delegates for each presidential candidate depends on our delegates and alternates turning out to support Barack.

Together we won a historic victory on January 3rd, but that was just the first step.

The Obama campaign has identified supporters in most of Iowa's counties to serve as delegate chairpersons. These individuals -- nearly 60 percent of whom are women -- are resources for Obama's county convention delegates who need to find replacements as well as outreach coordinators. Above all else, the job of the chairpersons is to ensure that those who committed on caucus night to support Obama as a delegate to the county convention show up and are counted once again.

Although Democrats attending the Iowa caucus on Jan. 3 divided into preference groups according to presidential candidates and each preference group selected delegates and alternates to the county conventions, those attending the county conventions are not beholden to their caucus night choice. For instance, several delegates and alternates were elected throughout the state as representatives of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards. While some may choose to remain loyal to that particular candidate, there is no requirement that they do so.

At county convention, seated delegates will once again divide into preference groups. Any group that does not meet a 15 percent threshold will be given an opportunity to realign with the viable groups. It is from the remaining viable groups that delegates to the five district and the state convention are selected.

Although the Iowa caucus receives massive attention as the first real pulse of the nation in terms of presidential candidate preference, awarding of national delegates takes place at conventions. For instance, on caucus night in Linn County -- the second largest Democratic county in Iowa -- Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson each earned three county delegates, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton earned 173 delegates, Edwards earned 174 delegates and Obama earned 262 delegates. Due to the 15 percent threshold for viability at the county convention, delegates for Biden and Richardson will be forced realign into other groups.

The final make-up of delegates from the county conventions to the five district conventions in April will be determined by both the numbers of delegates that turn out for each specific group and the loyalty of the individual delegates to their caucus night preference group. Edwards delegates could move as a group to either Clinton or Obama, could split between the two or could attempt to move through the process with their loyalties to Edwards intact. Since roughly a third of all county convention delegates throughout the state are aligned with someone other than Clinton and Obama, the upcoming conventions are venting new political excitement in the state.

The Democratic numbers reported on caucus night were a true representation of those Iowans who attended the caucus. Those numbers, however, were not a final tally of the make-up of Iowa's 57 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August.

With only seven days remaining before the county conventions, the Obama campaign has been the most active of the formerly commonplace presidential hopefuls in the state -- both in terms of communicating with their own supporters and in terms of outreach to possible delegate pick-ups from those in the Biden, Richardson, Edwards and uncommitted delegate pools. Because the national race between Obama and Clinton has remained narrow, it is quite possible that a few more national delegates from the Hawkeye State could make a difference in Denver.

He's been a staple on eastern Iowa television sets for nearly a quarter of a decade, but soon the Iowa Traveler will bid adieu to viewers.

A spokesman for KGAN has confirmed that this week Cary J. Hahn, known to most as the Iowa Traveler, will air his final segments at the network. No other details concerning the parting have been made available.

Hahn, a broadcaster for more than 40 years, started out in college radio. He has served more than 20 years at KGAN, an eastern Iowa CBS affiliate. In 2006, Hahn was awarded the Jack Shelley Award by the Iowa Broadcast News Association. The honor was the most recent of many Hahn had received from the Associated Press, United Press and other broadcast professional organizations. CBS photographer Ger Edwards, amateur videographer Al Coffin and Hahn earned the fourth annual Stanley Foundation Award in 2004 for outstanding broadcast coverage of Iowa's global connections. That same year, Hahn was one of three producers awarded the Iowa Motion Picture Association's Award of Excellence for television.

Hahn has been the Iowa Traveler since 1983, an assignment that has led him into a host of feature news stories over the years. Without his help, eastern Iowans might not have learned about the "Hog Calling Nun of Dubuque" or "Interstate Bowling." According to an earlier distributed biographical sketch, Hahn was said to have "ridden on the wing of biplane and his stories have taken him to New York, Los Angeles, and everywhere in between, including Canada."

Hahn, a past president of the Iowa Broadcast News Association, has served as a senior co-host at KGAN for the local segments of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. He has been quoted as saying his involvement has been "some of the most gratifying moments of his broadcast career."

KGAN has been owned by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group since 1999. In early February Sinclair also acquired KFXA, the Cedar Rapids area Fox network affiliate, in a $17.1 million cash deal. While Sinclair has purchased KFXA's non-licensed assets, the deal provides an option to buy the licensed assets for an additional $1.9 million, pending Federal Communications Commission approval. Baltimore-based Sinclair programs or provides sales services to 58 TV stations in 35 markets.

Eva Cassidy, live at Blues Alley, singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" --

Eva Cassidy had an amazing voice -- and cancer took her way too soon.

M.R. Field has an excellent wrap up on housing in Iowa at the Around Des Moines blog.

Don at Cyclone Conservatives attended the Story County Republican Convention, while John Deeth attended the Johnson County Republican Convention.

Claire at Demo Memo echoed the thoughts of Vanessa at Feministing while discussing sexist anti-Hillary Clinton groups on Facebook. On the other hand, I rather wish such sexism was limited to idiots on Facebook.

Just for fun, here's a list from Mnmom at Happy to be from Iowa:

Favorite childhood swimsuit?

Purple with bright green stripes and orange circles. It was probably the ugliest swimsuit ever, but I really liked it.

Favorite summer thing to do in Elementary school?

We lived down the road from a creek and my brothers and I loved to bait string with bits of bacon and fish for crawdads.

Favorite summer thing to do in high school?

Definitely hang out at the lake. Our town was pretty much an island, so there was always a private area to be found for sunbathing, swimming or more naughty pursuits.

What smell really takes you back to summers gone by?

Sun tan oil, freshly cut grass, crepe myrtles.

What's the first thing you'll grill when it warms up?

I will not be grilling. My husband is a wee bit overprotective of that domain. But I imagine we'll be grilling just about everything -- definitely rib eyes, burgers, brats and dogs. We love to cook on the grill during the warmer months.

What is your level of gardening and what will be first in the ground this spring?

My level? Uhmmm... hobbyist who knows enough to be dangerous? I've put in lots of plants that can mostly care for themselves -- my favorites being bleeding hearts and sage. For the past two years I've been on a gerbera daisy kick, and I'm pretty sure I'll be planting several of those again this year. Thus far, I've been unsuccessful at getting a plant to last through the winter. If I'm anything, however, it is a glutton for punishment. Next to roses, I think these daisies are some of the most picky plants out there.

Charlotte Eby at Iowa Insider is reporting that Iowa Sen. David Hartsuch of Bettendorf is circulating a petition in preparation for a Congressional run against Rep. Bruce Braley. Hartsuch, who admits to the petition, says he has not yet made up his mind if he will run.

Iowa Voters has some good news for those in favor of paper ballots.

No doubt nearly everyone in the free world has heard the news of Iowa's own Steve King opening his mouth and allowing this to spew out in relation to a successful Barack Obama presidential campaign: "The radical Islamists, the al-Qaida ... would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they would declare victory in this war on terror."

Chris at Red Hog Diary takes the opposite view (and tosses a few choice words of his own), while Ted at The Real Sporer says he agrees with King. And people say we don't have diversity in Iowa. HA!

Finally, if you've been reading here, then you already know my thoughts on the shenanigans in Des Moines during funnel week. But, just to back up my point, here's at least one right-leaning blog, Iowa Conservative, saying Rants is no longer effective.

If you are looking for something to read this Sunday -- and I know that the folks stuck in Iowa don't have much desire to go outside today -- read The Sisterhood Split by Jessica Valenti (Feministing).

I've been letting a similar piece run into and out of my mind since last fall. The bottom line is that I didn't have the guts to put pen to paper. Still, I'm glad someone did. There are issues in the feminist community that simply must be addressed if we are going to move forward.

Every so often some of my friends in Oklahoma like to give me a call or shoot me off an email to let me know what I've been missing. Usually these amount to the latest gossip, family announcements and (at least lately) reports of sunshine. When the email arrived tonight, however, it contained a link to a video on YouTube that features a portion of a speech to constituents made by Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City.

For those who don't want to watch the video, here's a sample:

"The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation; it's just a fact."

"I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam."

"No society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades."

Blunt honesty? I still have family in Oklahoma, many of whom share the views expressed by Kern. I don't find her views nearly as shocking as the fact that most don't understand that they are mainstream for those on the right.

Don't believe me? Kern told The Daily Oklahoman, "I said nothing that was not true, I said nothing out of hate..." She went on to add that the recording was made while she was speaking to "grassroots individuals who are Republicans."

Kern hails from the Woodlawn Park/Bethany area of Oklahoma City. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is a mostly affluent area west of I-44, north of I-40 and south of Lake Hefner. The proximity to both Lake Hefner and Lake Overholser has raised some property values, but it still has a long way to go in order to reach the extravagance of Nichols Hills (an area of the OKC metro just northeast of Kern's district).

I've gotten some jeers for saying that Iowa is basically the Wonder Bread basket of the Midwest. In my own defense, the statement was made primarily due to culture shock. It is seriously difficult to function in a place that has such a drastically different ethnic make-up than what you have grown accustomed to. I grew up surrounded by a wide variety of skin tones -- and most of Oklahoma is full of many different types of people. The Woodland Park area, however, is Oklahoma's Wonder Bread basket -- sans crust.

To put it all in perspective, however, consider 62-year-old Steven Domer. In November 2007, Oklahoma City law enforcement were called to gather Domer's remains following a brutal death -- a crime that likely began roughly 5 miles from Kern's home. Domer was last seen leaving a gay bar district, and his dumped body -- a wire hanger wrapped around his neck, his body bound with duct tape -- was discovered several days later in McClain County.

The investigation led law enforcement to the home of 37-year-old Darrell Madden. A computer, disks and a spiral notebook labeled "Hitler letter" were seized by search warrant. Police also found burned wires and clothes hangers with duct tape on them. Madden had a MySpace page that listed Adolf Hitler as a personal hero and interests including "securing our white race." When charges were filed, Madden was accused of Domer's death as well as the death of another man, Bradley Qualls. Police believed Domer's murder was meant to be the violent act that earned a place in the United Aryan Brotherhood for Qualls, who died about 10 days after Domer disappeared.

Despite all of the evidence, Madden was not charged with a hate crime. Oklahoma is one of 17 states that does not include sexual orientation or gender identity in its hate crime law. Several bills were written and introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature in an attempt to change the way hate crimes are treated as well as to add sexual orientation to the recognized categories. All have been buried in committee by the Republican leadership.

There is much more that could be written about Kern -- in particular, her bill that requires students to receive a passing grade even if they list their opinions as answers on a fact-finding test -- but the important thing that needs to be said in relation to this video is that words have consequences.

When I first moved to Iowa several years ago, I was asked to name one of the largest differences between this state and my birth state. Although I've seen just as much sexism, racism and other assorted nastiness in both states, the differences lie in how the discrimination is handled. It's been my experience (and I realize I'm painting with a very broad brush) that the further south you travel, the more open and direct discrimination becomes. When I was growing up, people didn't move from a neighborhood because a black family moved in. People confronted the black family and made their life unbearable until they moved. Yet, in Iowa, I've now met two families who quietly moved from their neighborhoods because a black family moved in down the street.

In that sense, even whispers have consequences. There are whispers about reduced property rates, increase crime rates and safety issues. There are whispers about how this group or that group is going to bring an end to my lifestyle, my religious beliefs, my family, my community and my life. Whispers behind closed doors or words spoken on capitol steps, the consequences are the same: hate, fear, violence and division.

That friend that sent me the link to the video? I'd like to write a note back and laugh, say how happy I am to be away from that craziness. But the truth is, I'm not really missing anything. The same misguided and ignorant beliefs are being toss about -- albeit quietly -- right here in Iowa.

Although a few days remain before Iowans will know all the 2008 candidates for the state Legislature, retirements and switches already appear to have taken a toll on the number of women who will be seated in Des Moines when the next legislative session begins.

Women currently occupy 34 of Iowa's 150 legislative seats -- 28 in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate. Five of those have announced retirements at the end of this term:

• Sen. Mary Lundby, R-Marion, District 18
• Rep. Sandy Greiner, R-Keota, District 89
• Rep. Polly Granzow, R-Eldora, District 44
• Rep. Libby Jacobs, R-West Des Moines, District 60
• Rep. Carmine Boal, R-Ankeny, District 70

In addition, two more women -- Reps. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, and Swati Dandekar, D-Marion -- will vacate their House seats to launch bids for open Senate seats.

While highly unlikely, if all the women who have so far filed candidacy papers win their elections, the state would see an increase of six women -- three in each branch -- when the State Legislature convenes in January 2009. Given Iowa's track record for supporting incumbents, a far more likely scenario, however, is the addition of one or two women in the Senate and a loss of four or five female legislators in the House.

Because only half of the seats in the Iowa Senate appear on the ballot every two years, the good news is that four seats currently held by women are not up for re-election. Assistant Majority Leader Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City; Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Boettger, R-Harlan; Sen. Becky Schmitz, D-Fairfield; and Sen. Staci Appel, D-Ackworth, will not appear on the 2008 ballot.

There are no safe seats in the Iowa House, since all 100 districts are up for re-election every two years. Twenty-two of the women currently serving in the House -- six Republicans and 16 Democrats -- intend to stand for re-election. Of those who have had candidates file to run against them, only two -- Rep. Jodi Tymeson, R-Winterset, and Marcella Frevert, D-Emmetsburg -- are facing a female opponents (Maxine Bussanmas and Deborah Satern, respectively). In the Senate the only female incumbent on the ballot is Sen. Pat Ward, R-West Des Moines. At press time, Ward did not have an opponent.

Although all candidate filings are not in, another bright spot appears in Senate District 48, a seat being vacated by current Assistant Minority Leader Jeff Angelo, R-Creston. Republican Kim Reynolds and Democrat Ruth Smith have each filed candidacy papers for the seat.

So far a total of six women have launched bids against male House incumbents. Democrat Anne Marie Fairchild will face Republican Henry Rayhons in House District 11. Democrat Cayla Baresel of Waverly has announced her intention to face Republican Pat Grassley for House District 17. Republican Renee Schulte, who made an unsuccessful bid for Iowa Senate in 2006, will face Democrat Art Staed in House District 37. Democrat Susan Temere will face Republican Ralph Watts in House District 47. Democrat Pat Van Zante will have to wait until a Republican primary decides her opponent in House District 71. Democrat Phyllis Thede, who made an unsuccessful bid for Iowa Senate in 2006, will face Republican Jamie Van Fossen in House District 81.

In House District 7, Democratic incumbent Marcella Frevert is now slated to face Republican challenger Deborah Satern of Estherville. If there are no other filings, this is a seat that will be filled by a woman.

Democrat Sharon Steckman and two male Democrats have filed candidacy papers for House District 13. Only one male Republican has filed for this seat, which is being vacated by incumbent Rep. Bill Schiekel, R-Mason City. In addition one Republican woman, Annette Sweeney, has filed to run in House District 44 (the seat Granzow is vacating). Although no women have filed candidacy papers in House District 27 (the seat Jochum is vacating for her senatorial run), Gretchen Lawyer, a Marion Democrat, has filed to run in House District 36 (the seat Dandekar is vacating for her senatorial run).

As stated earlier, both Jochum and Dandekar will be making bids for open Senate seats. If no additional candidates file in Senate District 48, then that seat will be held by one of the two women who have launched bids. The only other possible senatorial pickup comes in District 40 where Democrat Sharon Savage has launched a bid against incumbent James Hahn, R-Muscatine.

The 46-year-old director of the Hardin County Solid Waste Commission has been charged with first degree theft by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Mary Ellen Taylor, an Iowa Falls resident, was charged following an investigation that was prompted by an audit by the Office of the State Auditor. According to official documents (PDF), the audit, which covered a five-year time span, indicated Taylor was responsible for more than $127,000 of un-deposited collections and improper and unsupported disbursements. Taylor, an employee of the commission for more than 10 years, was fired in mid-December after audit findings were reported.

First degree theft is a class 'C' felony. Taylor turned herself into authorities this morning and is currently being held in the Hardin County Jail pending a preliminary court appearance.

7:30 p.m. Update: Although residence halls on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls remain in lockdown, a potential threat appears to have been averted. A man who made threats toward a female resident of Dancer Hall is currently being questioned by law enforcement.

7:54 p.m. Update: -- Campus is no longer in lockdown. Official word is released that the suspect was taken into custody in the Des Moines area, roughly a two-hour drive from the UNI campus.

Coverage of the situation as it developed is located below.

The University of Northern Iowa has activated its newly reestablished alert system to warn students to stay away from Dancer Hall due to a report of a weapon on campus.

No other details are yet available.

6:35 p.m. Update: The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier is reporting that all dorms on campus are now locked down due to a possible gunman on campus. Students need to use keys in order to access dorms.

6:45 p.m. Update: A campus spokeswoman said that threat, phoned in to campus authorities, prompted activation of the alert system.

6:49 p.m. Update: A second alert, distributed roughly 30 minutes following the first vague warning about Dancer Hall reads:

"UNI Police have received a threat of a gunman coming to campus to confront a student in Dancer Hall. Dancer Hall is locked down. Please stay away from the towers area -- Dancer Hall, Bender Hall and Towers Center. More updates to follow."

Students located on campus are receiving frequent verbal announcements via audio systems.

7 p.m. Update:A UNI student and friend, both signed up to receive emergency alerts, have stated that the new system worked perfectly. Both received text and voice messages advising them of the potential danger on campus.

Eyewitnesses are also reporting that it was a boyfriend of a Dancer Hall resident who made the threat. The dorm resident is the person who reported the potential danger to the authorities. There is currently no word if the suspected gunman actually entered the campus, but law enforcement continues to hold vigil.

Dancer Hall is located at the north end of campus, near Towers Center and parking lots that serve the Price Lab and Campbell Hall.

UNI officials only recently completed their first full-scale test of the new emergency alert system. Similar to those adopted by the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, the UNI alert system is able to send voice, email and text messages to students, faculty and staff within minutes. Alerts were also integrated to include the UNI homepage and are anticipated to be expanded to include a campus-wide loudspeaker system.

The university's nearly 13,000 students and 2,000 faculty had been updating emergency contact information for more than two months prior to the first full-scale test at the end of February.

The 18-year-old Windsor Heights man who allegedly threatened a female University of Northern Iowa student and prompted the lockdown of all residence halls on the Cedar Falls campus is being held in the Polk County Jail on charges of first-degree harassment.

Todd Michael Younk was arrested at his Windsor Heights residence Tuesday night while the UNI campus remained in lockdown. According to Younk's MySpace page he attends Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. Bond has been set at $10,000 on the aggravated misdemeanor. He could pay a fine of up to $5,000 and serve up to two years in prison. It is unclear if Younk had a weapon in his possession at the time of his arrest.

The threats toward a female student who lived in UNI's Dancer Hall were reported to come by phone, both voice and text messages. The threats, deemed credible by campus police, prompted the first-ever use of the university's emergency alert system. Students, faculty and staff were originally warned to stay away from Dancer Hall, a co-educational dormitory that houses approximately 600 students. Later, the alert system advised avoiding the entire Tower complex of which Dancer is a part. Students in the dormitory were told by loudspeaker to lock themselves into their rooms, turn off lights and avoid windows and doors.

University police worked with both the Cedar Falls Police Department and the Iowa Highway Patrol throughout the incident. While law enforcement did not believe Younk to be on campus or even in Cedar Falls from the start of the incident, precautions were taken to protect students. Law enforcement blocked all entrances to Dancer Hall and searched all 12 floors of the building.

In total, the campus remained on lockdown between 2 and 3 hours. The all-clear was not sounded until police confirmed Younk was in custody around 7:50 p.m. Tuesday night.

On Wednesday morning, campus officials were pleased with the performance of their alert system, and grateful that the incident ended without injury. According to UNI spokesman Jim O'Conner, a review of the system -- which had its first full-scale test run at the end of February -- will be completed today.

Amber, an 18-year-old high school senior in Cedar Rapids, walked silently down the side of the street for several minutes, chewing on her lower lip and pondering a way to describe how being a young person with a mental illness feels. When she suddenly stopped, it was to point to a collection of ice-encrusted rocks at the edge of a puddle.

"You want to know what it feels like?" she asked while bending down to feel the ice with her fingertips. "It feels like you are frozen in cold, cloudy ice. You sort of see what's going on around you, but not clearly. You don't really hear anything. You are separate from everyone else -- alone."

Amber, who is being treated for bipolar disorder, took two steps away from the icy rocks before turning back. She quickly raised her foot so the heel of her boot could deliver a blow to the ice, freeing the rocks.

"What we need most of all is someone willing to break the ice," she said.

Kathy Dorff, project coordinator for Support a Friend Iowa, said bringing support to young adults with mental illness is the primary goal of a newly launched website by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

"The Web site is basically the cornerstone for an overall campaign -- the Iowa Campaign for Mental Health Recovery," Dorff said. "We developed the site as the cornerstone piece of this particular project because the target audience for the message is young adults, 18 to 25. We know that the Internet seems to be one of the best ways to reach people in that age group."

Site visitors can find explanations of mental disorders that frequently impact young adults, a forum to exchange messages, suggestions on how to begin a conversation and a list of resources.

"Statistics show that young adults, 18 to 25, have a greater likelihood than the general population to suffer from mental illness, but they are also less likely to seek assistance or help for it," Dorff said. "This is a time in life when a lot of young people are just entering their own lives. They are basically either in college or beginning life outside of school. There are a lot of new decisions and perhaps stresses that they are facing. It's a particularly good time to make sure that young adults are staying healthy and on track."

According to information on the site, 27 percent of young adults have diagnosable forms of mental illness. Due to associated stigmas, many do not seek treatment. One the resources available is a list of possible red flags for mental disorders so friends can help motivate friends to talk and seek treatment.

"The main thing we want to do is get the word out to young people that if they, someone in their family or their friend suffers from mental illness, they are not alone," Dorff said. "They should seek help. They should be a friend to the person with a mental illness. There isn't a stigma associated with a mental illness, any more so than there is one for people who suffer from diabetes or heart disease."

In addition to the Web presence, the awareness campaign will also be developing informational brochures and flyers to be distributed at campus health centers and to resident assistants at university dormitories. Although the project has not yet utilized social-networking sites, Dorff says she anticipates that it will in the future.

"We are willing to explore many avenues in order to distribute this message," she said. "It's important for young Iowans to know they aren't alone and to know that they should support a friend with a mental illness just as they would support a friend with any other illness."

The Iowa campaign is in coordination with the national What a Difference a Friend Makes campaign, created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) in partnership with the National Ad Council. The Iowa project, as well as projects in many other states, operates with a SAMHSA grant.

In the midst of a very busy day -- and, yes, I realize the site does not reflect the amount of work I did today -- I got an email from my sexy husband that contained the following news item out of Ness City, Kansas:

For those who don't like t