Recently in Misc Category

Darcy Pohland, a 48-year-old reporter at WCCO-TV in Minnesota, was found dead in her home today.

We talk a lot on this blog about women who break barriers and make a difference in their communities. It is for this reason that we take a moment to honor Pohland, who, due to a swimming accident, was permanently paralyzed from the chest down. She was one of the few quadriplegic reporters of either gender currently serving in television news. She began at WCCO in 1983 as an intern and worked her way up the ladder to become a reporter for the station.

I never had opportunity to meet Pohland in person, but had admired her tenacity and "gumption" for several years. In her honor, I'm going to make it a point today to reach out to a couple of other female journalists and let them know how much I appreciate the work they do, and the challenges they have overcome.

Initial reports are that Pohland died in her sleep, and an immediate cause of death is not known.

It's part of the City Charter, the Mayor gives a State of the City speech by February 28th each year. A tradition has been for the League of Women Voters to host a luncheon for this event.

Mayor Corbett had a pleasant speech for his guests on Wednesday during the $30 luncheon.  Seats were available for those who did not purchase a lunch.

Mayor Corbett added a bit of the Christian religion into his speech using a couple of verses from the Bible.

" I personally have one more piece to add to the trio and that is a 'guiding principle'. I am going to mix a little spirituality, not really religion, to this speech. This is just me talking, not the City Council or City staff. I have a bible verse that I have adopted as the Mayor's verse. I have chosen Proverbs 31:8-9, as my guiding principle. This is the New International Version: 'Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.' I believe this is what life is all about... helping people. And that's my role as the mayor of your city. This is step one in achieving results.

I can't help but thinking that it is rather ironic that the poor and needy are being talked about as some of the City's most rich and powerful are sitting around tables eating their $30 dinners. 

I was told by a county employee there were a couple of tables with flood victims, guests of the City. However, just because they were flood victims does not necessarily mean they are poor and needy.

It's not always the ones that look poor and needy that are in need.  A small businessman or woman can be stretched so thin they don't have a dime to spare.  Would they sit on the sideline and not eat lunch?  Would you?

Perhaps we should not have an important city event where the needy, those obvious and not so obvious ones, don't feel able to participate. Make it open and equal to all, not just those with money in their pockets.


Kathy Potts

When women are faced with a difficult pregnancy they really only need two things:

1) Unfettered access to doctors' opinions about their situation
2) Freedom to make an informed choice based on those opinions

The ad that has caused the latest stir features a mother and her son. The son happens to be the quarterback at the University of Florida and a Heisman trophy winner -- but that is supposedly only important in the context of this ad being connected to the "big game." (The ad is being created by a conservative religious group, Focus on the Family, and they are continuing to build excitement and speculation by not pre-releasing it.)

Members of the Tebow family, including Pam, the mom, have been overseas missionaries, and founded the Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association in the Philippines. During one of their mission trips to the country Pam developed dysentery, which escalated until she was comatose. The medications she was given at that time are known to possibly cause harm or death to a developing fetus -- and she was unknowingly pregnant at that time with her son, Tim Tebow.

The Tebow family was given medical advice by doctors and they then made their decision to continue the pregnancy.

Some may say the Tebow's "were fortunate" or "got lucky." Others will say it was the "grace of God" or the "power of prayer." Quite frankly, people's thoughts about the outcome of the pregnancy aren't nearly as important as the fact that a woman was presented with unfettered access to information about her personal situation, and that same woman, understanding all the risks, made a decision that she felt was best for her and her family.

That's a beautiful story. That's a story we can all be proud to hear and proud to share. The fact that Focus on the Family and its donors feel compelled to spend between $2 and $3 million so that viewers can know what a good thing it is to trust women? We should all be up applauding.

Because this post, which is personal in nature, can be a trigger for readers who have suffered the death of a child, I'm placing it behind the link.

It's official.  Cedar Rapids has a new Mayor and several new City Council members.  I look forward to Wednesday's meeting.  I want to see everything that Ron Corbett plans on bringing to the table. 

If you follow the Gazette you know that I ran for the seat in District 3.  I felt it was time for Jerry McGrane to retire.  He's a nice guy and all but we needed a stronger voice than what we were getting from him.

Did I ever have a chance?  Maybe, maybe not.  At least I did something.  A lot of people just sit and complain.  I got up and tried.

I was dismayed when I heard Pat Shey was running for the District 3 seat.  His war chest and support system was more than I cared to take on at that time.

The time came when I realized that Corbett was backing McGrane and we were not even through the primary, I decided to begin to work with Pat Shey and to make sure that Jerry did not return to the Council.  I realized that it meant that Pat would probably win the seat.

Am I happy that Pat is my representative today?  Not always, it depends on when you ask me.  I've written two emails in the last month and he has not shown the common courtesy of responding to either one.  That bugs me.  Am I surprised?  A little.  Disappointed?  Yes. 

I told a cousin in Oklahoma City that if I ever decided to run for political office again that I was just going to stand in front of an oncoming semi truck.  I think that would be a little less of an ordeal!  He agreed it would be best to stay out of politics.  He mentioned something about slime...

My new years resolution is to sit back, watch what is going on in the political world, generally the republican one, and blog about it.  I'm through being in the trenches.  I devoted a decade to the GOP in Iowa.  Oh, it's been interesting for sure.  I've seen lying, stealing, cheating and all manner of bad stuff and shoot that was just in my own back yard!  It'd make a fine book for sure, no one would believe half the stuff!  I've got the stories about fame, fortune, romance, lust, hate, crime, you know - everything but a good old fashioned murder!

There have been many great moments as well.  Friends I've made that I don't even think of as politicians.  Among those are David Vaudt, our State Auditor and Bill Northey, our Secretary of Agriculture.  There are many more that I will mention in other blogs but these two are at the top of my list.  

I'll let you know what I think of the new Mayor's meeting on Wednesday!

Happy New Year!

Kathy Potts

I use to do a Sunday linkfest, but then decided that I rather liked keeping that day reserved for doing all the family and home stuff that sometimes gets pushed aside during the work week. So, I think "Monday Morning Quickies" might serve as a fair alternative for those who have been missing the Sunday posts.

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There has been a great deal of speculation, especially on the part of pundits, as to how certain divides within the Republican Party will manifest themselves. What I find most interesting about those discussions, however, is that most seem to think this is some new development. The fact is that this isn't a case of going to bed one night with clear skin and waking up to find a massive pimple on your forehead. This is one of those deep blemishes that festers under the skin for ages, causing pain each time it is touched, yet refusing to come to the surface so that it can properly be treated. As an example, it was these same concerns years ago that led to my own frustration threshold being reached and, ultimately, my departure from the Republican ranks.

From my vantage point, the newness of what is going on lies not in the conflicts, but in the fact that some, possibly tired of the slow membership bleed and disenfranchisement, are starting to push back. Although some have called such conflicts the beginning of the end for the party, I don't see it that way at all. Without these conversations, without some sort of resolution of the conflicts, the party is destined bleed its way to overt extremism and subsequent obscurity.

Here in Iowa, and in Linn County specifically, we have a unique vantage point to watch the happenings. Not only the divides ever-present on the gubernatorial campaign trail, but the blog Hot Issues from Linn County Iowa has been documenting some of the insider baseball of the local central committee, which currently revolves around how voting members of that committee -- including delegates to the recent special nominating convention in Iowa House District 33 -- earned placement on the membership roster.

On the back burner, simmering away and keeping emotions hot, is the Federal Elections Commission complaint that Morris Hurd, pastor of West Hill United Methodist Church in Burlington, helped funnel money between one of the 2008 Republican presidential campaigns and the Iowa Christian Alliance. (Which is headed by Steve Scheffler, who is also elected to represent Iowans on the Republican National Committee.) As if the allegations themselves weren't enough to gossip about, about the same time the church was burglarized, without signs of forced entry, and a computer was taken. For some Republicans, it all seems a little convenient. In fact, it prompted the proprietors of the Burlington Derailed blog to print a handy flow chart showing the Iowa GOP's structure.

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 Folks in Johnson County will be holding their own nominating conventions to fill a supervisor seat. John Deeth has detailed on the Democratic plans, as well as basic info and a link to more on the Republican plans.

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For the past three weekends, I've been traveling to different locations in Iowa to present seminars for Iowa women who want to be more effective online. I want to write a much larger post about this later, so just let me say for now that I learned as much as I gave.

Thanks to all the great women who came out & I hope we have many more opportunities to get together in the coming months.

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Jay Mattsson has published a one-on-one interview with Francis Thicke, who is running as a Democrat for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. If you want to know more about Thicke and why he is running, head over to Blog for Iowa and read the full post.

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No, I have absolutely no idea why the Century for the Common Iowan blog has decided to only be available to invited readers. If anyone else knows, please clue me in.

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Not only does Iowa get to keep the pig, but there are no reports of any bathroom penalty flags at Kinnick.

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Finally, I did have the amazing opportunity this weekend to set down my reporter's notebook and attend the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner as just another face in the crowd. There's no way I'm going to spoil a night off by trying to piece together a news report of what happened. But, if I can channel Deeth for a moment, I'll admit that my biggest disappointment is that Vice Pres. Joe Biden didn't enter or leave to "Centerfield" by John Fogerty.