During an appearance in Dubuque today Vice President Dick Cheney called democrat presidential nominee John Kerry a political opportunist who is unfit to lead the country.
He says in his 20 years in the Senate and two years on the presidential campaign trail, “Senator Kerry has given every indication that he lacks the conviction necessary to prevail in the war on terror.” He says, “He has shown endless vacillation and indecision. He makes repeated changes in direction that seem to be in response his own standing in the polls or his most recent campaign advisors. His endless back and forth on Iraq is confusing and shows that he is not ready for the responsibilities of Commander in Chief.” Cheney characterized his ballot partner, President George Bush, as a leader with convictions. Cheney says Kerry was wrong to skip the speech Iraq’s interim prime minister gave last week in Washington D.C.
He says he understands that the prime ministers message was not something Kerry wanted to hear, but says he was amazed that Kerry would insult one of our most important allies in the war on terror. Cheney spoke for about 20 minutes. One man invited the Vice President back to Iowa to go duck hunting. Cheney’s wife Lynn asked him if Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia could join them. Scalia was criticized for ruling on a case involving Cheney, after the two men had gone hunting together. A spokesman for the Kerry campaign responded to the Vice President’s remarks. Colin Van Ostren said,”No amount of negative name-calling can cover up the fact that George Bush has no plan for cleaning up the mess in Iraq.”
Cheney calls Kerry opportunist who’s unfit to lead the country
Governor unveils loan program for assisted living facilities
Governor Tom Vilsack unveiled a new loan program designed to encourage developers to build new assisted living centers for the state’s elderly. Governor Vilsack says the fund has five million dollars developers can access for loans to build alternatives to traditional nursing homes. He says it’s designed to create over 314 assisted living units over the course of the next two decades as we transition from nursing homes to assisted living. Vilsack says the program can have a big impact on Iowa’s elderly. He says the loan fund will create hundreds of more opportunities for seniors to have the benefit of assisted living. Vilsack says a second two-million-dollar loan fund will be available for programs that offer adult daycare or in-home services like respite care and congregate meals. The loans will be made out of the Senior Living Trust Fund — which was created for the state with Iowa’s share of the tobacco settlement. He says it was initially a grant program, but to make sure that there are always funds, he says the legislature authorized it to be a loan program. Governor Vilsack announced the loan program while speaking to the Older Iowan’s Legislature. The Governor also told the group that meets once a year that he’s forming a new senior cabinet made up of department heads from Elder Affairs, Human Services, Inspections and Appeals, and Public Health. Vilsack says he’ll meet with the cabinet regularly to discuss improving services for seniors.
Floating checks about to sink
Iowans who drop a check in the mail with hopes the money will be in their account within a few days will soon have to quit the practice — or face late penalties for bouncing checks. A new federal law kicks in October 28th that will virtually end the practice of “floating” checks. Dodie Bauman, compliance manager for the Iowa Bankers Association, explains what the new “Check 21″ plan means. Instead of banks putting the checks on planes or in trucks and shipping them cross-country can now use electronic representations of the checks, greatly speeding up the process. Bauman says the process will eliminate the need for banks to shuttle the actual checks around. Instead they can zap them like e-mail instantaneously. While it takes three-to-five days now for the money to “turn around,” the new system should make the funds available within one to three days. While this is troubling news for people who routinely float checks, Bauman says it will help other folks who are waiting on checks to “clear,” as the money should be there much faster.
Conference seeks to respond to family violence
A conference winding up today in Waterloo has focused on strengthening the community response to family violence. It’s sponsored by the family violence response team of the Iowa Attorney General’s office, where spokesman Bob Brammer says the aim is to help professionals balance priorities between catching batterers and protecting the victims. Brammer says “there’s no magic tricks,” but this conference is offering things found to work and some to avoid, for law-enforcement officers, domestic-violence advocates and prevention specialists, prosecutors, doctors and even workers in the department of human services. Brammer says in recent years the focus has sharpened on protecting children in domestic-abuse situations. Brammer says the A-G’s office has formed a family-violence response team that divides up the responsibilities while having members compare notes and all pull together. The 2-day conference sponsored by the family-violence response team of the attorney general’s office is titled “Improving Your Community’s Response to Family Violence: Strengthening Policies and Practices.”
ISU will look to stop Cowboy runningback from roaming the gridiron
Iowa State’s defense will get a severe test on Saturday when the Cyclones visit 24th ranked Oklahoma State in the Big 12 opener. The Cowboys have one of the nation’s top rushing attacks led by Vernard Morency who averages 187-yards per contest. Morency started his college football career after three years as a professional baseball player in the Colorado Rockies organization. Oklahoma State coach Les Miles says Morency has taken a more mature approach this year in his preparation. He says Morency’s biggest weapon is his strength. He says that combined with his vision allows him to make some cuts, while he’s strong enough to run through some tackles. Miles says he also can catch the ball, so he’s an every play, every game back.Miles says Iowa State will provide a difficult test, as he says their defense is their most accomplished piece of their football team.
Father runs over and kills daughter
Authorities say an eastern Iowa father ran over and killed his toddler daughter. A year-and-a-half-old girl was killed in the Sunday morning accident in rural Clinton County, near Elvira. Lindsey Renee Brewster was airlifted to a Davenport hospital where she was pronounced dead. She’d been playing in the driveway when her father, 36-year-old Wilbert Brewster, apparently backed over her. The accident is under investigation.
ISU going from wired to unwired
Iowa State University, once honored as a leading school for getting computers wired to the Internet, has now been recognized as one of the country’s most UN-wired campuses. Angela Bradley is vice-president of telecommunications at Iowa State and says computers are going through an evolution similar to what telephones have done.Bradley says it’s a well-wired campus, and wireless technology offers complementary technology. Whereas being wired to the internet lets computer users go fast and not have to share much bandwidth, wireless permits them to move around with a portable computer. Just as students once took a book to read on the campus green, Bradley says now they can sit under a tree with a wireless laptop computer. They’ve covered over 50 acres of the central campus green at ISU, and Bradley says “we would love to see kids out there usin’ it.” Bradley says the job’s not done — ISU is constantly expanding areas covered by computer networks, especially the wi-fi signals that will let any student or staff log on, in the residence halls and atriums and even at bus stops. But there are only a few channels used for wireless computer signals, and Bradley says there’s a lot of competition that bandwidth, and the potential for lots of interference. Besides other wireless access points and other people’s computers, there are microwaves, cellphones and cordless phones that use the spectrum so you have to be careful how you set thing up. That’s why the campus network is handled by engineers, and students are told not to set up their own private “wi-fi” systems in a dorm room. Security’s another big issue, she says, and network administrators take careful steps to make wireless as well as wired connections protected against eavesdropping and “hacking.” ISU allows only students, faculty and staff with an assigned computer ID to use its connections, wired and otherwise. Badley says ISU is responsible for the actions of people on its network and would have to know if any had done something questionable or illegal and track that — so you need a network ID to connect even to the wireless network. While people on a major campus may expect to be well-connected to the computer age, Bradley says it’s also the wave of the future for the rest of Iowa as well. Bradley says “people would like to be connected anywhere they go, whether they’re driving or walking or eating lunch.” She says those who expect to be able to check their stock quotes or e-mail and view classes online now will grow up to be connected wherever they are in the future. To see the report on the nation’s most “un-Wired campuses,” copy this link: http://www.intel.com/personal/products/mobiletechnology/unwiredcolleges.htm
